A Performance Lecture

AGNOSTICOSTAL is a performance lecture in which Ashon Crawley practices the breath, the gestures, the spiritual seriousness of Black folks, of Blackpentestalism, of Black social life. “Shouting,” a choreography of praise and worship in the Blackpentecostal tradition, will be immortalized on canvas as Crawley paints with pigment powder, acrylic paint, and ink using hand clapping, foot stomping, a tambourine, and movement of the body to visualize the intensity and fervor of spiritual practices. With a live soundtrack provided by the sounds of the Hammond B-3 organ, played by Charles “Chuddy” Smith, vocals by Ashley Howard and the downbeat by drummer Rodney “Rod” Jones, Crawley will engage a devotional practice of praise and worship live for, and with, an audience.

This is the third and final public event of the 2024-25 Keohane Professorship with interdisciplinary artist and scholar Ashon Crawley.

Ashon Crawley

Ashon Crawley is Professor of Religious Studies and African American and African Studies at the University of Virginia. He is author of Blackpentecostal Breath: The Aesthetics of Possibility (Fordham University …