Sjournee Cornelius-Quaidoo
Eugene Lang Opportunity Award 2018
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Over the span of six-weeks (July 1 – August 11) I participated in the James Baldwin: Reading and Writing in France program. We travelled around Paris, Saint-Paul-De-Vence and Vence over the weeks, in addition to reading over eight books and multiple essays within this time period. It was an amazing experience and I’m thankful to the Eugene Lang Opportunity Award and my Faculty Advisor Mia White for supporting me on taking the trip and support the work I aimed to create and some of which I now get to share below.
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Since the beginning of the program we were asked to be vulnerable and speak shamelessly in our writing. Which Baldwin always conveyed in his own. We read:
Go Tell it On The Mountain
The Fire Next Time
The Devil Finds Work
Another Country
Notes of A Native Son
Nobody Know My Name
Giovanni’s Room
Between the World and Me (By Ta-Nehisi Coates)
other articles written by Thomas Chatterton Williams and Scott Korb and a couple films including, I Am Not Your Negro.
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In the middle of our first almost second week the class took a trip to Baldwin’s beloved home, Saint-Paul-De-Vence in Southern France.
- View of Saint-Paul-De-Vence
- Les Amies De La Maison Baldwin in Saint Paul
- James Baldwin Exhibit in Saint Paul
Here are some images of the city where Baldwin lived in the last years of his life, Saint-Paul-De-Vence. Also, some images of the exhibition we (ironically!) came across while visiting the city put together by a non-profit called Les Amies De La Maison Baldwin (which has a known controversy with the Baldwin Estate linked below).
en Français:https://www.nytimes.com/2017/04/13/arts/james-baldwin-maison-saint-paul-de-vence.html
in English: https://www.nytimes.com/2017/04/04/arts/battling-to-save-james-baldwins-home-in-the-south-of-france.html, https://www.nytimes.com/2017/11/27/arts/james-baldwin-home-france.html
- Full View of the Real Estate Developer Taking Over Baldwin’s Estate
- Details of the New Condos Being Built (Demolishing Baldwin’s Estate)
- James Baldwin’s Estate Being (Partially) Demolished
- James Baldwin’s Home Being (Partially) Demolished
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After we returned to Paris,
We worked on creating two final pieces for this course, which was a brilliant challenge for the end of the six weeks. I began with a collection of letters as one piece and a collection of poems, notes and thoughts throughout the course that were carefully selected and placed together, but after talking with my professor I reimagined the two separate pieces. One is a collection of the original letters, notes, poems, and thoughts (untouched and unedited) with the raw materials they were written with and on – ultimately how they would be sent to the written recipient. Then, the second piece is similar, still a compliation of letters, thoughts, poems, etc but edited for the reader in my desired aesthetic. I was timid to this at first, but after being educated on the story of Julia Wilbur (an amazing diarist) I decided to be vulnerable.
Julia Wilbur references –
written (transcribed) diaries: https://www.alexandriava.gov/uploadedFiles/historic/info/civilwar/JuliaWilburDiary1860to1866.pdf
an opinion piece on her by my professor Scott Korb:
There were many Baldwin coincidences while on this trip, meeting Shannon Cain (in charge of non-profit Les Amies De La Maison Baldwin) during the Baldwin Portraits exhibition, meeting a Sydney a book-seller along the Seine who sells first edition Baldwin, Richard Wright, Chester Heims and more!, seeing Baldwin’s home (mostly demolished), running into locals from Saint-Paul that knew him, Seeing Zadie Smith read Feel Free after discussing it in class, a film rendition of Baldwin’s If Beale Street Could Talk will be in theaters this fall – and so on. This trip was magical, to say the least.
Here are the pieces I created for the final of this class, which I will continue to work on after leaving France.
Letters to James –
Here are the pieces I created for the final of this class, which I will continue to work on after leaving France. They are very personal and vulnerable pieces handwritten, typed, and scanned. Like I said in the intro, these two pieces are split between
The original works:
- You Know What’s Funny, original
- His Rage Poem, original
- I Am Not Your Negro Thought Page 1, original
- I Am Not Your Negro Thought Page 2, original
- Letter to Mani Page 1, original
- Letter to Mani Page 2, original
- Letter to Mani Page 3, original
The edited works:
- A Feature Presentation, edit
- I Remember… Page 1, edit
- I Remember Page 2, edit
- Release the Control Affirmation, edit
- Hold Myself Up Poem, edit
- Some Thoughts, edit
This gives you a little snippet of the books that will hold the collection of pieces I created throughout the trip.
Once I return to New York and receive my final installment of the scholarship, I am excited to convert these works into a physical book. Thanks to the first half of the scholarship I was able to get supplies, notebooks, paper to experiment with for the final compilation, and books related to (or written by) James Baldwin and diary/letter based writing forms. I look forward to updating this post with the final book I create thanks to Eugene Lang’s Opportunity Award and the life-changing experience learning about James Baldwin in France.
More snapshots from the experience (all the images in this post are my own, unless otherwise stated.)
- Shakespeare and Co. A Bookstore in Paris
- View in Montmartre 18th Arr.
- Zadie Smith Reading Feel Free at Shakespeare and Co.
- Beautiful Ceiling
- Ceiling of the Palais Garnier (where the Ballet performs)
- View from Sacre Cœur
- Eiffel Tower in Paris
- Exploring Vence, shot by fellow student Trudy Hall
- Cafe De Flore in Paris. Where Baldwin often wrote for hours.
Sjournee Cornelius-Quaidoo
August 2018