In residence for six weeks at Yes We Cannibal to research and build Gather Here, I sought to position neighborhood participants as collaborating artists, leaders, and framers. Block by block, house by house, bike by bike, conversational engagements laid the groundwork for a dynamic, room-sized cartography that grew out of the narratives of neighborhood participants, Indigenous Peoples of the region, and ancestral memories that weave together history, memory, geography, landscape, and language.

During the residency, live and pre-recorded conversations exploring the stories and experiences of the place were broadcast and used for experimental sound performances. The broadcasts, like testimonies, serve to define time and landscape. The material production of Gather Here remained the property of the Baton Rouge neighborhood.

Because of the Pandemic, the installation was necessarily experienced through the gallery front window. This surface became a collection space for community input.