Tuesday, October 14, 2021 at 7:30 PM
BMCM+AC (120 College Street) + Zoom
Proof of vaccination required for entry
Presented as part of the Faith in Arts Institute
Film screening and talk with Director Marie Cochran. “Testify, Beyond Place” pays homage to the Mount Zion African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church as well as its relationship to Western Carolina University, Cullowhee, NC. The year the film was produced in 2013, marked the 85th anniversary of the church demolition and gravesite removal to make way for the expansion of the campus. A marker at Robertson Residence Hall designates the original site of the church structure and approximately 100 graves. Testify bears witness to this event and provides a context for dialogue about a shared history and honors the resilience of the congregation. Producer/Director – Marie T. Cochran; Cinematography, Sound Design and Original Music – Kevin Slamon; Editing – Kevin Slamon and Marie T. Cochran
Open to all | FREE
Born and raised in Toccoa, Georgia, in the foothills of the Appalachian Mountains, Marie T. Cochran is an artist, educator and writer. She holds the 2021-2022 Lehman Brady Visiting Dual Professor position at Duke University, Center for Documentary Studies, and in UNC–Chapel Hill’s Department of American Studies. As a self-described cultural pollinator, she uses visual art to convene partnerships that ignite collaboration. Cochran is the founding curator of the Affrilachian Artist Project, which celebrates the intersection of cultures in Appalachia and nurtures a network of individuals and organizations committed to the sustainability of a diverse region.
Cochran has been an art faculty member at educational institutions in Georgia, New Jersey, Maryland, and North Carolina. Her Fall 2020 undergraduate and graduate course as the Lehman Brady Professor is “Arts & Culture of Black Appalachia: Race, Place, Community and Resilience.” Cochran will be teaching the course at Duke University (Center for Documentary Studies) and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (Department of American Studies) as part of the joint professorship.
As a visual artist, she creates mixed media pieces that address community history and are often grounded in interdisciplinary dialogues focused on social justice. Her work was recently included in the exhibition Appalachia Now! as part of the inaugural reopening of the Asheville Art Museum in Asheville, North Carolina.
Cochran’s awards include a Georgia Council for the Arts individual artist’s grant; a Mid-Atlantic Arts Council’s “Artist as Catalyst” grant; NEA/Southern Arts Federation Sculpture Fellowship, NEA Fast-Track Challenge Grant and a grant from the “We Shall Overcome Fund” under the auspices of the Highlander Center for Research and Education, New Market, Tennessee.