Talker #9: Clifford Owens

TALKER is an interview zine about performance.

Issue #9 is a conversation with artist Clifford Owens.

He is based in Jersey City, New Jersey, and his work focuses on the body in relation to the power dynamics of race, masculinity, class and the fragility of social structures. It also closely examines the significance of photography in performance making and its histories.

His project Anthology responds to the absence of a performance history that includes Black artists by soliciting and performing scores from Black artists working today. In Photographs with an Audience those attending the performance are invited to respond to prompts and questions by making a commitment to the moment and history by standing before the camera and having their picture taken.