she/her

Carissa Lee’s work is about Black exhalation. Her performance, sound, video, workshops, theater and public intervention work is about building a home that she’s still in search of. Her practice is that of a spiritual scientist: Testing hypotheses with an audience; transforming relationships from passive viewer and performer to participants; and striving for discovery.

Carissa’s work explores the tensions and current emotional landscape of anti-blackness. To explore the unknown, she researches the known, including personal experiences and Black vernaculars. She’s obsessed with the mundane like washing clothes, walking, breathing, quiet listening, watching waves, and all the cultural narratives and mythologies surrounding Black southern life. 

Across all the mediums in which Carissa works, sound is the catalyst. Using Black archives that consist of speeches from Black visionaries, poems, recorded conversations, music and personal family storytelling, Carissa incorporates all the information that is packed in the human voice to make sound collage.

Carissa’s work invites participants to listen, to remember our own memories and collective memories, and to make a new time together, a Black time, where the possibilities are not endless, but different. 

The Project

HCL will be supporting Carissa Lee in the development and expansion of a performance art piece that centers around the experiences of women. Building on work initially performed at Steppenwolf Theater, Carissa will use this residency as an opportunity to deepen the narrative, introduce new themes, and expand the scope of the work. Carissa’s research will center around her family archive.

Carissa will work collaboratively with musicians to compose sound moments and soundscapes that weave authentic family narratives into the performance. Through collaboration, exploration, and iteration, the visual component of the performance will incorporate set design, costumes, and visual projections. 

This project will culminate in an immersive performance with multi-media documentation to augment the longevity and reach of the project.  

About the Artist

Carissa Lee is a Chicago and Los Angeles based artist who works with performance, sound, public intervention, workshops, video, and theater. She uses recordings, writing, Black southern culture (including medical histories, stories, music etc.) and voice to materialize emotions of grief, and isolation. Her work synthesizes her desires for an empathetic tomorrow that holds compassion for all people. In addition to being an artist, she is a passionate teacher who has worked with theaters and organizations across Los Angeles to help students of all ages use their lived experience to make performances. She received her BFA in theater from NYU And MFA in Studio Art with focus in performance from the School of the Art institute Chicago. She is a founding member of the Suspended Culture art collective. She has exhibited work in Los Angeles CA, Chicago IL, and Quebec City Canada. 

For more information, visit www.carissapinckney.com.

Events with HCL

Spring Open House @ Mana Contemporary | Saturday, April 13, 2024

Dance Sound Sound Dance Party | Friday, June 21, 2024