Due to the tragic events in Lewiston and the ongoing situation, the book signing by Titi de Baccarat for his new book Taking a Knee for Change has been postponed. We will let you know when a new date has been scheduled for this event.

TAKING A KNEE FOR CHANGE

Taking a Knee for Change is a book of photography and personal testimonies by Mainers on their relationship to social justice. The book featuring photographs (by 10 Maine photographers taken in the months after the murder of George Floyd) of people who live in Maine and work to end racism and achieve social justice locally. The book combines both photographs of the Mainers taking a knee and statements about their personal relationship and experience with social justice.

AUTHOR

Titi de Baccarat is a multidisciplinary African artist  who builds community, at once painter, sculptor, jeweler, clothing designer, writer, activist and more. His authentic style is based on the use of heterogeneous materials which gives his works the ability to provoke both questions and emotions. He firmly believes that whatever form it takes and whatever functions it may have, the primary essence of art is to awaken human consciousness and harmonize the functioning of psychic faculties so that the human being can thrive, overcome the normal stresses of life, perform productive work and contribute to the life of their community.

GUEST SPEAKERS

Bob Greene is the eighth generation of his family to be born in Cumberland County. His roots in Maine stretch back into the 1700s. After graduating from Portland High, Bob went off to college and a career as a journalist, covering among other things the funeral of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. He has met three presidents: Harry Truman, Lyndon Baines Johnson and Robert Mugabe of Zimbabwe. And, as The Associated Press Tennis Writer, Bob traveled the world covering the sport. After retiring he returned home to Maine where his genealogical research has led to his deep knowledge about Maine’s Black history. He currently teaches a Black History of Maine course at OLLI (Osher Lifelong Learning Institute} at the University of Southern Maine. Bob also is the 2021 recipient of the Maine Historical Society’s Neal Allen Award, which is presented each year for exceptional contributions to Maine History.

Katherine Ferrier is a queer poet, teacher, and multi-disciplinary artist based in Rockland, Maine. Her research grows out of a deep practice of paying poetic attention to the world, and lives in the intersecting communities of movers, makers, writers and activists. Her spontaneous typewriter poetry practice has been featured twice in The Knot, and her writing has been featured in Uppercase Magazine, Contact Quarterly, and several poetry anthologies, including A Dangerous New World: Maine Voices on the Climate Crisis, published by Littoral Books, and a self-published collection of photographs and poems about making, called Thread Says Stay. She was the Poet-in-Residence at The Press Hotel from 2018-2021, writing custom poems on the spot for guests on one of her vintage typewriters. She has become a regular feature in the arts, non-profit and humanitarian sectors, writing poems at numerous fundraising and networking events throughout southern and mid-coast Maine. She has recently shown her work at The Ice House Gallery on North Haven, The Buoy Gallery in Kittery, and Speedwell Projects and Cove Street Arts in Portland. Since 2018, she has been the Director of the Medomak Fiberarts Retreat, a nationally recognized gathering of fiber artists from around the world, where she teaches patchwork, slow stitching, wet felting, and writing for makers. She believes in patchwork as the radical practice of being patient, saying yes, and making space for everyone at the table.

Mihku Paul, BA MFA, is a Malecite writer/artist and activist from Old Town, Maine. She grew up on the Penobscot river, and received both a traditional cultural education from her grandfather and a formal education in White schools.  Her poetry is taught at several campuses in the UMaine system.  Mihku spent more than three decades working with Portland Public Schools on DEI issues related to Wabanaki culture and history. She lives and works in Portland.