The Chorus reflects artist Simone Leigh’s commitment to sculpturally shaping and defining the presence

and voices of women of color throughout history. A sound installation plays in each gallery the exhibition

occupies. In it, artists, writers, curators, and historians read excerpts from Saidiya Hartman’s essay “Manual

for General Housework” (2019), sculptor Nancy Elizabeth Prophet’s diaries from her time in Paris (1922–1934),

and new text created for this project by historian Sharifa Rhodes-Pitts. This multiplicity of voices alludes to

the chorus found in ancient Greek drama. It also suggests Hartman’s description of the chorus as “all the

unnamed young women of the city trying to find a way to live and in search of beauty.” The readings contemplate

the experiences and torments of people of color—particularly women—engaged in manual labor willingly or under

varying degrees of duress. This exploration continues across several areas with the presentation of new figurative

work by Leigh and sculptures from the museum collection by Nancy Elizabeth Prophet, Janine Antoni, and Huma

Bhabha in the galleries ahead and a work by David Hammons in the Egyptian gallery on the 6th floor. Together,

they consider approaches artists have shared over thousands of years and question how instances of colonialism

and cultural imperialism seen in ancient Egypt, Greece, and Rome continue to frame contemporary experiences.

The soundwork in this installation includes mature, racially charged language that directly conveys the intense

personal experiences of the women of color who wrote it.