We Lit the Fire and Trusted the Heat (after Angela Davis) performed by Elena Pinderhughes and Samora Pinderhughes

We Lit the Fire and Trusted the Heat (after Angela Davis) is a sonic sculpture and performance created from jail debris salvaged from the Cook County Department of Corrections in Chicago, IL, following a 2021 demolition of Division I. When performed, We Lit the Fire… invites viewers to witness how iron bars reclaimed from a carceral demolition engage in transformation through acts of touch and vibration. Musicians and performers are invited to transfigure what were once materials of confinement into new experiences of liberation. Collaborations and improvisations suggest novel formal and physical configurations, as well as structures of support, care, and release, which contrast with those of submission, restraint, and control. 

Performance by Elena Pinderhughes and Samora Pinderhughes at the Institute of the Arts and Sciences at UC Santa Cruz, CA in 2024.