Binya Closing Party

Please join us on July 8 for the closing party for Binya: Faces ob de Gullah Geechee. We’re celebrating this beautiful exhibition with a full roster of Fashion, Music, Food, and Conversation!

From 3-5pm:

Hip Hop & African Fashion Workshop

During this two-hour workshop, participants will learn about and discuss the origins of Hip Hop culture and its artistic principles, as well as high fashion's appropriation of traditional African textiles and designs. Participants will work on their own piece of Hip Hop fashion in a hands-on activity where your creativity is your only limitation! The program is led by Charles Norton, a linguist, interdisciplinary researcher, and Hip Hop teaching artist based in South Carolina. He is an assistant professor of Interdisciplinary Studies at Coastal Carolina University, director of the Joyner Institute for Gullah and African Diaspora Studies, and recently headlined the Hip Hop Don't Stop Festival in Casablanca, Morocco: https://www.instagram.com/reel/CszDlOMvT-6/

Limited to 20 participants (pre-register at to save your spot)

5pm – Grab a drink and some food from Ruby Lee’s, see the exhibit, talk to the curators, and enjoy the beauty of Honey Horn on a summer evening. Pop-up booths from local Gullah Geechee artisans open at 5.

5:30pm – Join Tendaji Bailey for an interactive listening session of songs from his new album “Seeking, Soaring,” a collection of Gullah Resistance songs that incorporates his personal and community history and communicates the strength and beauty of contemporary Gullah culture. Tendaji is a Gullah teacher, artist, musician, and community organizer. From his ancestral home on Lady’s Island to 7th and 8th grade classrooms in NYC, Tendaji lets his heritage root his creativity and passion.

6:15pm – “Crowned: The Hairitage of Headwraps” with Donellia Chives
Learn the history and legacy of head wraps and experience transformation through crown adornment. Donellia will share images and information from her trip to Ghana during Year of Return and demonstrate different ways of styling head wraps. Participants will have a chance to try their own wraps and to purchase one of Donellia’s signature designs.

7:15pm – Q. Smalls is a Gullah Geechee rapper, activist, educator, and Native of Hilton Head Island. At the Binya Closing Reception, he will perform a set drawing from his discography, which includes the albums Q Da 1, Late Nights Early Mornings, Coast Boy King, and Gullah Life.

8:00pm – The live performances will close with an improv Hop Hop cypher, which draws inspiration from the Gullah Geechee and African American ring shout traditions. During the cypher, artists will lead participants in joining in song, lyricism, and community building.