Performance | “Jacolby Satterwhite: A Metta Prayer”
Billion Tekleab
Viktor le. Givens
Jacolby Satterwhite, A Metta Prayer, 2023, site-specific, 4-channel multimedia installation: sound, theatrical lighting, high-definition color video, and 3D animation in Autodesk Maya and Unreal Engine, courtesy of the artist and Mitchell-Innes & Nash, New York. © Jacolby Satterwhite
August 29, 2024
In celebration of Jacolby Satterwhite: A Metta Prayer, two local artists create an immersive sound experience in response to the exhibition. Billion Tekleab incorporates live musicians in a conceptual performance. Viktor le. Givens performs a choreopoem based on healing and memory reconciliation.
Step into a kaleidoscopic universe of multimedia magic as these local artists blend sonic elements, video, and music—creating a vibrant ode to love and resilience.
This exhibition celebrates humanity in all its glory through computer-generated scenes of life and love. There are occasional instances of adult language and imagery.
Plan Your Visit
- This program is free with Museum admission.
- The performance takes place in Cullinan Hall in the Law Building. Capacity is standing room only, available on a first-come, first-served basis.
- Parking Information | Museum Hours | MFAH Campus Map
About the Performers
Billion Tekleab, born in Houston, is an Eritrean-American interdisciplinary artist. Tekleab’s practice is generated by contrasting personal narratives from Eritrea with histories existing in various Black Gulf Coast communities. Across hemispheres, Tekleab marries art with communal relationships rooted in the intersectionality of shared Black diasporic experiences. Tekleab holds a B.S. in integrated studies of art, design, and African American history. Her works have been presented with Contemporary Arts Museum Houston, Project Row Houses, Contemporary Arts Center New Orleans, Nameless Sound, and the Anderson Center for the Arts.
Viktor le. Givens is a found-object installation performance artist whose practice centers around the gathering and arrangement of ancestral objects to activate spaces for site-specific public rituals. By connecting the material culture of his ancestors with pre- and postmodern spiritual theologies, le. Givens hopes to extend and re-imagine the folk customs of his family. His material archive comprises forgotten and discarded household items found during excavations of East Texas, Louisiana, Havana, and Mexico City. Through the accumulation of these rich cultural artifacts, le. Givens seeks to create spaces that inspire the activation of cultural and spiritual (re)memory.
On Thursdays, admission to the MFAH Permanent Collections is free courtesy of Shell USA, Inc.
"Jacolby Satterwhite: A Metta Prayer" was commissioned in 2023 for the Great Hall of the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York.
Learning and Interpretation programs receive generous funding from the Institute of Museum and Library Services; Samuel H. Kress Foundation; The Brown Foundation, Inc.; Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo; Houston Junior Woman's Club; Sharon G. Dies; Sterling-Turner Foundation; Susan Vaughan Foundation; and additional generous donors.