BARTER BOAT
Co-created with Desiree Moore and Robin Schwartzman
Barter Boat is a carnival-inspired pop-up trading post captained by a trio of sailswomen who travel from city to city trading with the citizenry. Focused on moments of generosity, Barter Boat engages audiences through the act of barter, oral storytelling, and visual art. We ask with every interaction: after money, what makes something valuable?
"Barter Boat…focuses on moments of generosity and engages audiences through the act of barter, oral storytelling, and visual art. It uses humor and lightness as a way of introducing and unpacking some pretty complicated questions about commodification and consumer culture -- the things we value, the things we throw away, and how those things, those little pieces of nothing, actually become a thread that connects people." Rebecca Carbin, ArtPrize Juror.
UNTITLED RECONSTRUCTION PROJECT
Co-created with Crystal Irby
Co-presented with Speaking Down Barriers
Co-written with lawyers, historians, poets, and anti-racist organizers in South Carolina, “Untitled Reconstruction Project” is based on an 1871 Federal investigation into the origins of the Ku Klux Klan, and the legacy of the Era of Reconstruction. “Untitled Reconstruction Project” combined the transcripts; original writing by myself; poetry and prose by several of my collaborators, who included Jason Battle, Ada Bennett, Mark Byrnes, Marlanda Dekine, Zach Ellis, Stephen Harris, Crystal Tennille Irby, Chauncey Meeks-Owens, Fire/Monique Walton, and Connor Vetter; local and national history; original research, and a facilitated discussion with the audience.
Review: "Elliott readily admits this work does not attempt to provide answers, but she hopes it will launch a dialogue on race and racism." Carolina Curtain Call.
Article: Show tells story of KKK violence in Spartanburg County Spartanburg Herald-Journal.
SCRAPPY SHAKES
Collaborative Shakespeare Troupe
An ensemble of professional actors committed to community work and high-caliber text work, Scrappy Shakes performed Shakespeare plays for free from 2015 to 2019.
Article: Post & Courier
