Writer-Performer Deke Weaver to Present at USM Oct. 15

Tue, 09/17/2019 - 03:48pm | By: David Tisdale

Artist and master storyteller Deke Weaver, an associate professor of new media at the University of Illinois, will present “Tiger: Encountering Endangered Habitats” Tuesday, Oct. 15 at 6:30 p.m. in Bennett Auditorium on The University of Southern Mississippi’s (USM) Hattiesburg campus. Admission is free.

Weaver is a writer, performer, designer, and media artist whose work has been presented around the world, including with performances for every letter of the alphabet, each representing an animal or habitat that has been threatened by climate change. Through his art, he aims to showcase how truly connected our world is. 

Videos of Weaver’s performances have been shown in venues such as the Sundance Film Festival, The Berlin Video Festival, and the Metropolitan Museum of Art, and have taken him to places such as livestock pavilions, national parks, night clubs, backyard sheds, and living rooms. He is working on a life-long project, The Unreliable Bestiary, inspired by the literary concept of the unreliable narrator, and feature stories about animals, the relationship we have with them, and the worlds they inhabit.

His performance at USM will be sponsored by University Forum, as an adjunct event of its standard Forum lecture series.

“Deke Weaver is a modern storyteller with a mission,” said Dr. Andrew Haley, director of University Forum. “In a travelogue that features video, sound, costumes, and plenty of humor, Weaver explores our relationship with tigers, the environment, and ourselves.  We’re very excited that in addition to this year’s regular University Forum series, we can offer this very special, very unique evening of art and entertainment, with a healthy dose of social consciousness.”

For more information about this event, email forumFREEMississippi.