DAP IS A LOVE LANGUAGE
Dap: Past and Present Exploration of the Black Man's Most Nuanced Gesture
The Dap Project began around the dinner table with family, a voice recorder and a photographer. We had hopes of replicating moments like that, with different folks from the community, turning them into an exhibit around our topic of conversation, dap, the Black Man's most nuanced and telling gesture. This was two weeks before quarantined behavior began and the world entered the panamania. Two years since that first gathering with family, thanks to a grant from Humanities DC and dap emerging stronger than ever, the hopes and dreams of The Dap Project have relaunched and will land at The Anacostia Arts Center on Saturday, November 19!
The Dap Project is seeking to preserve local history through interviews with native Black Washingtonians from neighborhoods across Northeast, Northwest, and Southeast to understand how they learned 𝘥𝘢𝘱. In other words, how was the rich tradition of subtle yet powerful cultural communication passed on and sustained.
Our interviews will be accompanied by photographs of the neighborhood. We hope you will join us in November!
So much to explore...
𝘛𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘱𝘳𝘰𝘫𝘦𝘤𝘵 is 𝘴𝘶𝘱𝘱𝘰𝘳𝘵𝘦𝘥 𝘣𝘺 𝘢 𝘨𝘳𝘢𝘯𝘵 𝘧𝘳𝘰𝘮 𝘏𝘶𝘮𝘢𝘯𝘪𝘵𝘪𝘦𝘴𝘋𝘊 𝘢𝘴 𝘱𝘢𝘳𝘵 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘦 “𝘏𝘶𝘮𝘢𝘯𝘪𝘵𝘪𝘦𝘴 𝘎𝘳𝘢𝘯𝘵 𝘗𝘳𝘰𝘨𝘳𝘢𝘮”, 𝘢𝘯 𝘪𝘯𝘪𝘵𝘪𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘷𝘦 𝘧𝘶𝘯𝘥𝘦𝘥 𝘣𝘺 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘋𝘊 𝘊𝘰𝘮𝘮𝘪𝘴𝘴𝘪𝘰𝘯 𝘰𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘈𝘳𝘵𝘴 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘏𝘶𝘮𝘢𝘯𝘪𝘵𝘪𝘦𝘴.
Meet The Dap Project Tribe
Edward Underwood is a photographer, and native Washingtonian. He currently resides in Washington, DC, where he discovered his love for photography at an early age. After studying in North Carolina, he later moved back to DC working as a financial analyst before making a career as a photographer. The Dap Project is excited to have him bring his lens to the work and final TDP exhibit in November.
Joseph Edwards is the man behind the look and feel of The Dap Project's action shots with our co-founders, Rhonda and Aaron. We are looking forward to sharing more of his work in our November exhibit. Joseph is a Northern Virginia based family portrait and event photographer from Brooklyn, NY. When not capturing joyous moments, he enjoys spending time with his ten year-old daughter.
Kris Stith of StithWorks is the creative mind behind The Dap Project logo. Kris is an interdisciplinary designer based in Washington, DC who has been providing creative solutions for the DMV area and beyond for more than 10 years. In between projects Kris enjoys manga, eating and preparing exquisite food, MMA, comedy and anything but banal country music. He also has a twin brother, Keagoé, who joined Kris on the TDP podcast for a very engaging conversation.
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Rhonda Henderson
Co-Founder
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Aaron Stallworth
Co-Founder