I Put a Spell On You is boldly titled, its message inevitable as an infatuation, as mesmerizing as a slow dance. And now that co-curators Sam Bardaouil and Till Fellrath have got your attention, this is the opportunity to take in their group exhibition at the Savannah College of Art and Design Museum of Art, currently showing through January 31, 2021. Screamin Jay Hawkins wrote and first sang the song, inspired by a romantic grievance, and the key word is “inspired,” isn’t it?  Most, maybe all of art, is a collaboration to some extent, which is exactly what the curators had in mind. I Put a Spell On You is also a brilliant choice because the original piece has inspired genres and generations, from Nina Simone to Creedence Clearwater Revival. Each has interpreted the piece in a kind of cosmic collaboration.

For example, Kahlil Joseph’s project Black Mary … which started when poet Langston Hughes met photographer Roy de Carava on a Manhatten corner in 1954 and was so impressed by the photos of day to day life in Harlem that he convinced his publishers to commission a book of his verse and de Carava’s portraits. The Sweet Flypaper of Life became a long visual poem about Harlem as seen through the eyes of a grandmother, Sister Mary Bradley. Almost 50 years later, Joseph, who has worked with Beyonce and Kendrick Lamar, conceived his film Black Mary with the voice and stylization of singer Alice Smith, whose lyrical dramatization reverberates long afterwards.  

Other artistic collaborations in I Put a Spell On You include Nadia Kaabi-Linke and her husband Timo who choose to be credited solely under her name, Hesam Rahmanian and brothers Rokni and Ramin Haerizaheh who have made art together since leaving their homeland of Iran,  collectives who partner with community groups and more to comprise 11 synergistic pieces in the show.  In a time when modes of education are being examined, when classroom teaching is being redefined, it’s encouraging to view an exhibition like this at SCAD, which has a long history of interdisciplinary study and interaction.  It’s a “small world” when we share ideas and actions by venturing out of our own time and space. —Gwynned Vitello

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