About the program
Cornerstone is an exhibition by Yasmin Spiro at the Hyde Park Art Center that explores the relationship between land, architecture, memory, and the body. Rooted in the landscape and built environment of Jamaica, the work reflects on how place shapes identity and how the structures around us—both built and inherited—hold histories of belonging, displacement, and return.
This live performance, created in collaboration with Jamaican choreographer Neila Ebanks—cofounder of Enkompane and director of studies in dance at the Edna Manley College of the Visual and Performing Arts—extends the exhibition’s themes through movement, sound, and sculptural form. Through their distinct practices, both artists have developed ongoing investigations into land, equity, and how the body moves through and holds space. The performance considers how we interact with land and architectural environments—how those spaces are shaped by memory, history, and systems of access.
Sculptural forms made specifically for the performance are activated by the dancer—leaned on, circled, gathered, repositioned—creating a shifting conversation between body and built form. The movement draws from traditional and contemporary Jamaican dance vocabularies, reflecting Ebanks’s deep engagement with the cultural and political histories embedded in movement. A layered soundscape of field recordings and live drumming grounds the piece in place and time.
