Gabrielle Civil facts for kids

Gabrielle Civil is an American performance artist, a poet, and a teacher. She is known for her unique performances that often explore ideas about being Black and a woman. She creates art to "open up space" for important conversations.

Early Life and School

Gabrielle Civil grew up in Detroit, Michigan. She went to the University of Michigan from 1991 to 1995. There, she studied creative writing and comparative literature, which is about comparing different types of literature. She did very well in her studies.

Later, she continued her education at New York University. She earned two advanced degrees there. Her final project, called a dissertation, was about the poetry of Black women in the United States, Canada, and Haiti. She also focused on Black Feminist Theory, African-American Literature, and experimental poetry from around the world.

Teaching Career

Gabrielle Civil has taught at many colleges and universities. She started teaching summer classes at Bard College, Annandale-on-Hudson, in New York. She taught students how to use their bodies and minds to understand things better.

After that, she taught at Macalester College and later returned to Bard College to teach in the Bard College Prison Initiative. This program helps people in prison get an education.

From 2000 to 2013, she was a professor at St. Catherine University in St. Paul, Minnesota. She taught English, Women's studies, and studies about race and ethnicity. She then taught performance art at Antioch College in Yellow Springs, Ohio, from 2013 to 2016.

Currently, she is a guest teacher at the Jack Kerouac School of Disembodied Poetics at Naropa University in Boulder, Colorado.

Art Projects

Besides teaching, Gabrielle Civil also works as a curator. This means she helps organize and put together art shows and projects. She has worked on several performance art projects, bringing together different artists.

Some of her projects include:

• "From the Hive presents Girls in their Bedrooms": This project featured installations, videos, and performances in Minneapolis, MN, in May 2014.
• "Call & Response": This project focused on Black women and performance. Gabrielle Civil organized it at Antioch College in July and August 2014. It included performances by herself and other artists like Duriel E. Harris and Kenyatta A. C. Hinkle.
• "Grief: an Experiment in Joy": This was an art intensive project in Minneapolis in January 2016, where she worked with other artists like Miré Regulus.

Her Art and Performances

Gabrielle Civil sees herself as a Black, feminist artist. Her goal is to create space for new ideas and discussions through her art. She performs alone and with other artists. She has shown more than 40 performances in North America and other countries.

Performance art is a type of art where the artist uses their own body, voice, and actions to create a live experience. It can be a way to explore ideas and feelings, and it often involves the audience.

Selected Performance Art Works

Here are some of Gabrielle Civil's performance art pieces:

• "Oration (a ritual of ancestors)"
  • Location: Claremont, CA, April 2017.
• "Say My Name" (an action for 270 abducted Nigerian Girls)"
  • This performance was shown in many places, including Houston, Washington, D.C., Brooklyn, NY, and Mérida, Mexico, in 2017. It also appeared at St. Catherine University in December 2016 and Antioch College in July 2014. It first premiered in Minneapolis, MN, in May 2014.
• "Northern Oracle" (a ritual of nest and flight)
  • Location: University of Toronto-Scarborough, Canada, February 2017.
• ". . . hewn & forged . . . (Alchemical Activation against the Shadow Book)"
  • Location: Naropa University, Boulder, CO, October 2016. It premiered at the Salt Lake City Performance Art Festival in September–October 2016.
• "_______ is the thing with feathers"
  • Location: Antioch College, Yellow Springs, OH, August 2014.
• "Fugue (Da, Montreal)"
  • Location: Montreal, Canada, June 2014.
• "Aide-mémoire (bedroom remix)"
  • Location: Minneapolis, MN, May 2014.
• "Aide-mémoire"
  • This performance explored how memories are made and shared. It involved objects, music, and movement. The artist created a "memory theater" and shared "memory gifts" with the audience. It was inspired by different ways people remember things, like souvenirs and selfies.
  • Location: Antioch College, January 2014. It first premiered in Harare, Zimbabwe, in November 2013.
• "Sucking Teeth" with Rosamond S. King
  • Location: Penn State-University Park, October 2013.
• "How to Get Started" (after John Cage)
  • Location: Antioch College, Yellow Springs, OH, October 2013.
• "Fugue (dissolution, Accra)"
  • Location: Accra, Ghana, May 2013.
• "Fugue", a meditation on the 2010 Earthquake in Haiti
  • Location: Minneapolis, MN, November 2012. It premiered in Brooklyn, NY, in December 2011.
• "____ doesn't know____ own beauty (or Vanishing Rooms)", a performance with Moe Lionel
  • This work was inspired by a novel by Melvin Dixon.
  • Location: St. Paul, MN, July 2012.
• "* a n e m o n e", Pleasure Rebel
  • Location: Bryant-Lake Bowl Theater, May 2012.
• "incur/inflict"
  • Location: Naropa University, Boulder, CO, May 2012.
• "From the Hive" collaboration with Ellen Marie Hinchcliffe
  • Location: Minneapolis, MN, May 2011.
• "dirt piece", performance Laboratorio
  • Location: Oaxaca, Mexico, January 2011.
• "despedida (MN)"
  • Location: Minneapolis, MN, May 2010.
• "<<MN <->MX>>"
  • Location: Minneapolis, MN, April 2010.
• "Instead"
  • Location: Baton Rouge, April 2010.
• "BRUSH (MN)"
  • Location: Minneapolis, MN, April 2010.
• "Muño (MN)"
  • Location: Minneapolis, MN, April 2010.
• "despedida"
  • Location: Mexico City, Mexico, November 2009.
• "Tie Air (reconfigurations)"
  • Location: San Germán, Puerto Rico, August 2009.
• "In & Out of Place (México, DF)"
  • Location: Mexico City, Mexico, June 2009.
• "Muño (fantasía de la negrita)"
  • Location: Tlaxcala, Mexico, June 2009.
• "Tie Air"
  • Location: Minneapolis, MN, March 2009.
• "In and Out of Place (MLK & Obama)"
  • Location: Mexico City, January 2009.
• "BRUSH"
  • Location: Mexico City, Mexico, December 2008.
• "Me Enojo Contigo"
  • Location: Mexico City, November 2008.
• "Comedy & Other Work"
  • Location: Bedlam Theater, Minneapolis, MN, June 2008.
• "The Outsiders," performance with Ellen Marie Hinchcliffe
  • Location: Minneapolis, MN May 2008.
• "ghost / gesture"
  • Location: Jakarlo, Senegambia, The Gambia, West Africa, April 2007.
• "displays (after Venus)"
  • Location: Mt. Holyoke College, S. Hadley, MA, November 2006.
• "heart on a sleeve"
  • Location: Chicago, IL, May 2006.
• "Spring Tour," "Spring Tour"
  • Location: Minneapolis, MN, March 2006.
• "R S V P: work / play / process"
  • Location: Minneapolis, MN, January 2006.
• "How's Work?" performance with Molly van Avery
  • Location: Minneapolis, MN, January 2006.
• "Unblown Breath"
  • Location: Minneapolis, MN, November 2004.
• "Berlitz," Yari Yari Pamberi: Black Women Dissecting Globalization
  • Location: New York, New York, October 2004.
• "after Hieroglyphics"
  • Location: Minneapolis, MN, March 2004.
• "Romance" from "after Hieroglyphics"
  • Location: Patrick's Cabaret, February 2004.
• "Anacaona", détras de la puerta china
  • Location: University of Puerto Rico, Rio Piedras, PR, July 2003.
• "economy"
  • Location: Minneapolis, May 2003.
• "whisper (the index of suns",
  • Location: Minneapolis, MN, October 2002.
• "The Secret Garden (Closet)"
  • Location: chez moi, June 2002.
• "Hyperbolic" with the No. 1. Gold Collaborative
  • Location: New York, NY, August 2002.
• "Art Training Letter (Love)"
  • This performance was about feelings and big events after September 11.
  • Location: Intermedia Arts, June 2002.
• "Circulation"
  • Location: St. Catherine University, February 2002.
• "infestation of gnats"
  • Location: Red Eye Theatre, Minneapolis, MN, February 2002.
• "Art Training Letter (Love)"
  • Location: The Babylon Café/ Cultural Arts & Resistance Center, November 2001.
• "Chimerical", with the No. 1. Gold Collaborative
  • Location: Asian American Writers Workshop, NY, NY, August 2001.
• "Body Dander, Dust"
  • Location: Arroyo Seco, NM 1997.