Requiem for Mary Turner

Requiem for Mary Turner

Bobby West  Composer and Pianist

Lori Precious  Artist and Director

Through our art, music and short film collaboration entitled Requiem for Mary Turner; Lest We Forget, we seek to illuminate the dark chapter of America’s history of lynching, specifically of the 136 documented lynchings of African American women. Mary Turner was one of the 136 and we chose her as a symbol for them all. Only education can provide an enlightened future.

Program Description

West’s original composition, Requiem for Mary Turner, will be recorded in Los Angeles. Then, in a contextually appropriate venue, the composition will be performed live by a symphony along with an exhibition of Lori Precious’s 136 pieces of art of the Black women’s names as well as an educational short film on the subject edited to the symphony and using the art as part of the imagery.

Additional compositions (original Bobby West and others) will also be recorded to release a future album.

FULLY FUNDED 

$5,910.00 Record symphony for Requiem for Mary Turner. July 2022

Funding Needed

$4,475.00 Short Film. A creative educational tool using Mr. West’s symphony and the 136 names of Black women lynched in America, made of butterfly wings to highlight this chapter of American history. Date Needed: July 30, 2022

$6,500.00  Record 3 additional songs. In order to complete an album, record an original composition Sacred by Bobby West, In The Garden (an old “Negro Spiritual” that Bobby’s grandmother Valerie Mae would sing.) Date Needed: June 30, 2022

Approx. $7,500.00 Budget and date TBD Premiere. Requiem for Mary Turner and related songs in an appropriate venue for music, art and education. Date Needed: November 15, 2022

$8,500.00 Framing. Framing cost for 136 individual art pieces by Ms. Precious. Date Needed: November 15, 2022