Houston, TX: Fiege Films and Urban Souls Dance Company are pleased to present Aniya Wingate in her debut performance, Caution: Roses Die Here, from plantations to chemical plants. This is a performance art piece exploring a young woman’s fight for environmental justice in historically black communities. The performance will take place at the historic Deluxe Theater on March 14thin two-parts, filmed live for the feature length documentary film, Raising Aniya, directed by John Fiege, in collaboration with her mentor and fellow artist, Walter Hull. Wingate will create an immersive experience bringing awareness to the every day threat chemical plants present to the surrounding residents.
Seventeen-year-old Aniya got her start as a professional performer after joining Urban Girls, a performance art development program by Urban Souls Dance Company. Her passion for activism arose after Hurricane Harvey devastated Houston and displaced her family for 6 months. As an artist and performer, Wingate used her creativity and community the last two years to investigate environmental racism in the Gulf Coast Region. From Texas to Louisiana, Aniya spoke with residents in Baytown, Port Arthur, 5th Ward, Galena Park, and Reserve, who all shared stories of health issues, including cancer and other auto-immune diseases.
The performance will tell the story of her journey through dance, poetry, film, and visual art. The second part of the show, titled “Shoulders Deep”, explores the initial experience of displacement, telling her story of fear, action, and follow-up as a result of walking through the rising flood waters that changed both Aniya and Houston forever.
Wingate has been invited to speak and perform across the country from New York City to Berkeley calling attention to the environmental injustices taking place throughout the Gulf Coast region. As a young black woman, Aniya uses her art to create an empowering space for a new generation of youth and affected communities by showing perseverance in the face of injustice.