Who gets to remain complicit in the spectacle of grief and death in the United States? How is the weight of bearing witness shared?

Audience members were invited to watch and/or participate in the spelling of names of victims killed by police violence. The work provides a space of remembrance, healing, and action through a traditional grade-school tradition in the U.S.

This version of the Spelling Bee was held in the RISD Museum’s Metcalf Auditorium in Providence, RI. It started with one speller and aimed to acquire more contestants from the audience as time went on. Only one other person volunteered to join the stage as a speller, while the rest of the audience chose to remain seated.

• The names read by the announcer were pulled from factual news stories and real people.
• There was no penalty for spelling a name wrong.
• No winners were declared.
• Participants were allowed as many attempts as necessary to spell a name correctly.

Performer Credits:

Announcer: Utē Petit
Judges: Malaika Temba, Qualeasha Wood
Spellers: Chantal Feitosa-Desouza, Nadia Wolff

Cinematography by Tristan Hsu

Full version of the performance is available upon request.