Saint Heron Press

Eldorado Ballroom 2023 Book is a zine publication celebrating Saint Heron’s inaugural live performance and arts series of the same name. Curated by Solange Knowles, the program took place in early spring 2023 at the Brooklyn Academy of Music (BAM), presenting a visionary approach to honoring intergenerational expressions of experimental and transcendent performance. With a lineup of both contemporary and historic creative revolutionaries, the series reflected Solange’s commitment to preserving and reverencing the works of Black practitioners whose artistry has profoundly shaped music and performance art.

Inspired by the historic Black music hall in Houston’s Third Ward—Solange’s childhood neighborhood—Eldorado Ballroom paid tribute to the space where her love for performance first began. Each night explored new artistic territory, aligning with Solange’s personal practice while celebrating the foundations of these themes. The multi-generational audiences of Saint Heron and BAM experienced performances that honored artistic blueprints of the past while embracing the reinvention of genres by today’s visionaries.

Published by Saint Heron Press, this 87-page zine serves as a vivid portrait of the series, featuring over 100 exclusive images by photographers CJ Harvey, Jeenah Moon, Rafael Rios, and Silvia Saponaro. The book includes an interview with Eureka Gilkey (Executive Director of Project Row Houses, Houston), a narrative tribute to Linda Sharrock's legacy, and a post-series conversation with Autumn Knight. Designed by Kai Jenrette, with art direction by Solange Knowles and Sabla Stays and writing by Shantel Aurora, the zine captures moments from performances, backstage, and beyond.

Eldorado Ballroom 2024 Book is a zine publication celebrating Saint Heron’s second live performance and arts series of the same name. The series launched BAM's 2023 music program and was reimagined for the Los Angeles Philharmonic in fall 2024, honoring the evolving expressions of experimental and transcendent live performance over the decades.

Spanning three nights, the lineup featured an impressive array of talent, including Bilal, GMWA Women of Worship Choir, Moses Sumney, Zoie Reams, J*Davey, Liv.e, and more. Unlike the inaugural BAM series, the Los Angeles edition introduced the On Dissonance program—a full orchestra show highlighting the profound influence of Black women’s orchestral and operatic innovation. The evening featured works by the late composer and educator Julia Perry, alongside symphonic pieces by Patrice Rushen and Solange Knowles.

Published by Saint Heron Press, this zine offers a rich visual and narrative portrait of the series, featuring over 100 exclusive images by photographers CJ Harvey and Kobe Wagstaff. It includes reflections on each performance night, an exploration of the legendary Walt Disney Concert Hall, a post-series conversation with J*Davey, and more. Designed by Kai Jenrette, with art direction by Solange Knowles and writing by Shantel Aurora, the zine captures intimate moments from the stage, backstage, and beyond.

In Past Pupils and Smiles is the printed embodiment of Solange’s self-composed and self-directed final performance at the 58th International Art Exhibition of La Biennale di Venezia, staged in the Teatro alle Tese 2, Arsenale. On November 24, 2019, the work closed the Biennale’s first official performance program — a multidisciplinary offering weaving music, dance, and set design into a meditation on loss, identity, and transformation.

Amid Venice’s historic floodwaters, the piece magnified themes of protection, transformation, and spiritual transcendence. Interpreters moved through choreographed scores that celebrated the body as both vessel and archive, embodying resilience in the face of natural and spiritual disruption.

Engaging Black speculative thought as a practice of world-making, In Past Pupils and Smiles reflects on the interplay between the aesthetics of the self, the body, and constructions of spatiality. We shape ourselves in relation to the spaces we imagine. Here, immersive landscapes become vessels for articulating Black womanhood — drawing upon postmodern dance, minimalism, architecture, and queer/feminist narratives to conceive an unrestrained presence and expression.

The hardcover edition preserves the performance through photographic and process-based documentation, transporting readers into the genesis of the work and its evolution alongside the unexpected disruptions of Venice’s floods. Intimate behind-the-scenes moments and archival process notes expand the narrative beyond the stage, offering a layered portrait of creation, collaboration, and world-building.