Radical Reversal


Randall Horton is a writer, poet, artist, an associate professor of English, and the only person in the United States with seven felony convictions and academic tenure.

Artist Bio

Devin B Waldman is a multi-instrumentalist, composer, and music producer in New York.

Artist Bio

Radical Reversal explores how art can play a pivotal role in social justice while providing pathways for artists to give back. A collaboration between poet Randall Horton and composer Devin B Waldman, the artists seek to improve the quality of life for those within the criminal justice system. Focusing on Minnesota Correctional Facility-Shakopee and Suffolk County Detention Center in Boston, the work will provide a way for women and men to reclaim their humanity through the creative process. Radical Reversal will set up a recording studio and performance space at the two facilities, where participants will be able to create poetry and music, play, and learn the process of digital editing. The project culminates with cultivated bands within both facilities performing a livestream of their work. ​​The equipment will live as permanent fixtures, allowing the space to be utilized long after the physical performance.


Award Year
2022
Status

In Progress


Creative Capital Carnival 2022

An African American man with a red suede cap turned backwards with the backdrop dimmed.

Randall Horton

Bloomfield, NJ

Randall Horton is a writer, poet, artist, and an associate professor of English at the University of New Haven. He is the only person in the United States with seven felony convictions and academic tenure. Horton is the recipient of the 2022 Creative Capital Award, the American Book Award for Oral Literature, the Gwendolyn Brooks Poetry Award, the Bea Gonzalez Poetry Award, a National Endowment of the Arts Fellowship in Literature, the GLCA New Writers Award for Creative Nonfiction for Hook: A Memoir, a Poet-in-Residence at the Civil Right Corpse, and a Soze Foundation Right to Return Fellow. His poetry collection {#289-128} was published by the University of Kentucky Press Northwestern University Press, and Dead Weight: A Memoir will be published by Northwestern University Press in 2021. Horton is on the Advisory Board of Pen America’s Pen Prison Writing Program. He is also co-founder of the social justice band, Radical Reversal and a member of the band Heroes Are Gang Leaders, a group whose unique blend of blues, jazz, funk, hip hop, go-go, R&B, soul, classical music, poetry, dramaturgy, and prose continues the legacy of Amiri Baraka. He has appeared on C-SPAN, NPR, CTNPR, and in countless journals, magazines, and radio shows. Originally from Birmingham, Alabama, he now resides in East Harlem.


Collaborator

Devin B Waldman is a multi-instrumentalist, composer, and music producer in New York.

This is the headshot of Devin B Waldman holding a speaker above his head. The photo is taken by Isaac Rosenthal in New York City in 2020.

Devin B Waldman

New York, NY

Devin B Waldman is a multi-instrumentalist, composer, and music producer. He leads the group BRAHJA and is a co-founder of the groups Radical Reversal, Notable Deaths, and Diva of Deva Loka; and a member of the bands Heroes Are Gang Leaders, Land Of Kush, MoE, and Malcolm Mooney & The Eleventh Planet. Waldman has performed with artists such as Abiodun Oyewole, Patti Smith, William Parker, Nadah El Shazly, Godspeed You! Black Emperor, Thurston Moore, Hamid Drake, Janice Lowe, Mette Rasmussen, Charles Hayward, Yoshiko Chuma, Daniel Carter, James Brandon Lewis, Luke Stewart, and many others. As a youngun, Waldman learned from pianist Paul Bley. He has performed with his aunt Anne Waldman since the age of ten.

Photo: Isaac Rosenthal


Collaborator

Randall Horton is a writer, poet, artist, an associate professor of English, and the only person in the United States with seven felony convictions and academic tenure.