Choreographer/dancer Johari Mayfield is collaborating with visual artists to spin a lively gothic comic strip featuring the Venus Hottentot and Charles Darwin.

Out of the Box conjures up this eccentric posthumous partnership between the Venus Hottentot and Charles Darwin. Through the use humor, satire, and a bit of political incorrectness, these two dead historical figures plot the liberation of the living by addressing humanity’s constant need to place and lock people, places, and things into boxes to where no one can breathe, mix things up, groove outside with other people.

Character description:

The Venus Hottentot AKA Saarjie Baartman was a South African woman showcased in nineteenth century Europe because of her large buttocks. When she died, her body was dissected and displayed in a museum of natural history for nearly 200 years. She became a lightning rod for pseudoscientific theories around race, sex, and gender. Today she is healed and has come back to help everyone deal with their “isms” and help Johari who is working on “The Venus Riff” as a resident artist at HERE Arts Center. For info: www.here.org/who/artists/venusriff/

Charles Darwin: A nineteenth century scientist who devoted his life to researching and writing scientific treatises including The Origin of Species by means of Natural Selection and The Descent of Man, and Selection in relation to Sex. Today, he has come back to help everyone by lending greater clarity on his theories.

Visual Artists: Brian Mainolfi, Teylor Smirl