Sharon Bridgforth’s storytelling draws from roots, strives for change
Lambda Award-winning author and Chicago native Sharon Bridgforth returns home this week with a series of appearances here in the city, speaking from her experiences growing up immersed in black southern culture while coming to terms with her queer identity.
Bridgforth’s story, much like the "theatrical jazz" aesthetic adapted in her work, is anything but linear. Born at Chicago’s Cook County Hospital, she moved to Los Angeles at the age of three. She was raised there within a hybrid culture - black southerners who had moved west - and spent much of her free time reading. She began writing at the age of 15. When she was 22, she was married and gave birth to a daughter shortly thereafter.
And then, the coming out process began.
"In retrospect, I’ve always been queer, but I grew up in a time when I didn’t hear language about it, let alone having the support to process how I felt inside. I didn’t actually understand that my feelings for women could be valid," explained Bridgforth. "I was 24 when I figured out that I indeed not only was attracted to women, but that I didn’t have to be straight... Although I was probably always more crooked than straight."
She divorced and eventually relocated to Austin, Texas, where she has called home since 1989. It was here where Bridgforth’s writings took wing, taking a new shape with the help of a circle of fellow artists who served as mentors and inspired a new form.
"I identified as a poet, but I actually saw my work in my head and body very visually, so I knew I wasn’t writing poetry in the way that we usually see and experience it, but I didn’t know what to do with it," Bridgforth shared. "They looked at it and identified it as theatre, so when I had that experience, I understood how to move forward."
And move forward she did. Her work has included two prominent books, bull-jean stories (1998) and love conjure/blues (2004) - both published by RedBone Press. Bridgforth’s latest project is called delta dandi, an interdisciplinary performance piece commissioned by the National Performance Network and Women & Their Work.
delta dandi
delta dandi premiered earlier this year at the Long Center in Austin and will be brought to Chicago this autumn for a series of performances sponsored by the Center on Halsted. The work is described as a "living cacophony of monologues, chants, choral tellings, blood memories dance and song," tying in with Bridgforth’s background in storytelling and oral traditions, as she describes:
"I’m working in a tradition of theatrical jazz aesthetic and that is shaped and informed by black life. [delta dandi] is an interdisciplinary theatre piece that looks at collective grief and trauma in order to talk about love and transformation. The essence of all of my work starts with me, it starts within my bones and then the pieces become what they want to be. I wouldn’t say that it’s about me, but certainly about my life experiences and what I’m yearning to grow into definitely informs the work."
And thus, it is the deeply personal love of storytelling that drives Bridgforth to live the life of an activist-artist - touring the nation, networking with other social-changers, educating and inspiring. And she wouldn’t have it any other way.
"In my work, there is the idea that stories are being told for a purpose. The personal is the political and the the goal is about something bigger than yourself." Bridgforth shared. "[This] is what I do, just like someone who’s a teacher or doctor does what they do. I feel like it is a privilege and I take it very seriously.
Being in conversation with my wonderful network of collaborators and the many communities I’ve visited is what fuels me. I see myself as part of a larger weave than just what’s going on in my head and am a big believer in being present. I think this is the key tool of creating work and being more fully ourselves. I think that practicing this can change lives."
Where to find her!
Chicagoans will be lucky enough to get a preview of "delta dandi" this Wednesday evening in a special reading at the Center on Halsted, beginning at 7 p.m. In addition to this appearance, Bridgforth will be featured in a free discussion on using art as a tool for change at Move On Mondays at Links Hall (3435 N. Sheffield) Monday from 7-9 p.m., and in C.C. Carter’s POW WOW, Inc., hosted at Jeffrey Pub (7041 S. Jeffery) on Tuesday at 7:30 p.m.
Finally, Bridgforth will be a featured guest alongside E. Patrick Johnson at the Chicago History Museum on Thursday for "Speaking Out Down South," a program opening eyes to the lives of queer African Americans and drawing connections between the Windy City and the American south. The program begins at 5:30 p.m. with a brief cocktail hour. For more information on Bridgforth’s these appearances, or to get a look at more of the artist’s work, visit www.sharonbridgforth.com
