re·past
rəˈpast, rēˈpast/
A repast is a meal to commemorate the loss and celebrate the living and the cycle of life. Within African American cultural tradition, the repast is as important as the church liturgy. Death became associated with “homecoming” a release from the horrors of slavery. It was forbidden by law in the United States to hold funerals for the enslaved, so the communal meal, the repast, became an integral and meaningful way to remember the dead and to acknowledge life and the living. In a performative meal food items are used to draw attention to a particular social and political issue.
Repast is a performative dinner on Malaga Island. It is a public memorial to the lives of those who inhabited the island before they were evicted in July 1912. Collaborative in nature, this creative endeavor includes artists from a variety of genres such as sound, printmaking, painting, dance, and culinary arts. The one-time event will occur on July 12, 2018.
Click here for the video of the performance on July 12, 2018