Reading the City
Reading the City is a series of live, online video conversations and written essays that examines Compton’s artistic narratives, cultural mythologies, and legitimacy as one of the world’s most well-known arts and culture producers. This project facilitates deeper analysis of the city that transcends outdated tropes and casts a radical future.
Participants share their work and discuss personal experiences and artistic legacies of the city that evolved from a mecca for Black artists in Los Angeles to a symbol for Black urban reality and mythology. It is the first program to bring together critically acclaimed, multi-award winning artists, writers, musicians, and scholars in conversation, particularly one that centers their experiences with Compton as their home and a center of Black and Brown art, history, and cultural production since the 1960s.
The series engages an intergenerational group of participants from Compton, or connected to the city’s history of artistic and cultural production. This engagement takes place within a broader framework exploring race, migration, and creativity shaped by the distinct movements of people the city has experienced.
You can access the conversations and essays here:
Reading The City: Compton and The Literary Imagination
Reading The City: Compton Artists on Art
Reading The City: Compton Off The Wall