Chocolate City Keep Crankin'

In celebration of Go-Go Preservation Week 2022 (Nov. 14 -19), the DC Public Library presents the exhibit Chocolate City Keep Crankin', on view in the Great Hall of the Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Library from Nov. 16 - Dec.15. Chocolate City Keep Crankin’ is organized by Dee Dwyer, Wayne Palmer, and the art collective NoMüNoMü.  

About the Exhibit

The exhibition Chocolate City Keep Crankin’ celebrates Go-Go music and culture in Washington, DC through the unveiling of four monumental photographs in the Great Hall. Among them are two works by local photographer Dee Dwyer titled A Great Day in Go-Go (I & II), which bring together–for the first time–the city’s preeminent Go-Go bands. A Great Day in Go-Go (I & II) were inspired by Art Kane’s A Great Day in Harlem, 1958, and Gordon Parks’ A Great Day in Hip-Hop, 1998, and were shot over the course of two years in Chuck Brown Park in response to the need to preserve the unique sound and culture of Go-Go music as gentrification threatens to diminish its presence in the city.

In addition to the large-scale works, the exhibition will include an interactive installation featuring musical instruments and CDs, incorporating music and excerpts from oral histories from the Go-Go Archive at DC Public Library.

Exhibition Opening Event

• Sugar Bear
• Sweet Cherie
• Killa Cal
• Moe Shorter
• Darrin X

The panel will be moderated by photographer Dee Dwyer. Learn more about the panel!