Winter Studio Update, 2024-25
Hey y’all.
I hope this season is finding you well, and with plenty of time to rest and laugh with your beloveds. These last 6 long months between the solstices have been sweetened by so many collaborations with dear ones, and by my friendships with so many of you. Thank you for coming on this journey with me.
I’m off social media for the foreseeable future, so thank you, also, for being here to keep up with me and my practice. I can’t wait to share it all with you.
In July, brontë velez invited me to be in collaborative ritual with their collective bakiné in support of No Place Like the Town at Oscar Grant Plaza. Alongside collaborators Aja Lenae, Amina Paula Malika, Hodari Blue, Iya Charlene, Aykwe, Bushmama Africa, and Reverend Dereca, we offered ritual sweeping, drumming, and words to open, close, and cleanse the space. I was invited to serve as the Lead Ceremonialist guiding our offerings, and am ever-grateful to brontë and bakiné for the loving, grounded work they offer the world.
I reprised my role as Dr. Mama Feelgood at Bar Shiru in August, MCing a night of poetry and other words that marked the launch of our new group, the Oakland Arts Collective.
Aracelis Girmay, Ayodele Nzinga, and Tomas Moniz brought their words, and Martín Perna brought some gems from his vinyl archive. Watch out for more from the Collective in 2025!
Autumn brought heat waves and a busy season to the studio. In September, I held ceremony with amara tabor-smith as Cece Carpio created this visual offering for Palestinian freedom. As bombs rain down on Gaza, Lebanon, and Syria, while the genocides continue in Sundan and the Congo, may we remember that our freedom is bound together.
Free Palestine.
Free Sudan.
Free Congo.
Free us all.
I also performed a communal reading of Alie Jones’ poem “I Dare You” at the Black Tulip public day of Art, Action & Advocacy on October 5th. The piece was written to bring awareness to child sex trafficking and urge an end to violence against Black women and girls, and I was called on to perform it at Lake Merritt alongside Alie, amara tabor-smith, Bushmama Africa, Nola Brantley, Nicia DeLovely, Venus Morris, Janae Newsom and Jaeva J. I am always grateful for Alie’s offerings.
October invited us into the Black W(hole), an organic convening of Black feminist artists, writers, and scholars in the Bay Area. From October 16-19, we hosted 5 public programs of Black feminist performance, discussion, and celebration across the Bay. I was in delightful conversation with Alexis Pauline Gumbs on her new biography of Audre Lorde, Survival Is A Promise, and spoke on an exceptional panel of queer Black women & femmes on Black Lesbian Legacies at EastSide Arts Alliance alongside Alexis Pauline Gumbs, Savannah Shange, Ayana Omilade Flewellen, Alisha B. Wormsley, and Ashara Ekundayo.
Litanies, our ritual reading performance honoring the life and legacy of Audre Lorde, marked the center of our Black W(hole). It was a joyous success, rooting deep into the full moon on October 17th at the Women’s Building in San Francisco. I am so grateful to have collaborated with Alexis Pauline Gumbs and all of Audre’s children on this third installation in the Readings, a series of live ritual performance readings of the work of Black literary ancestors of the African Diaspora.
Litanies featured live and recorded offerings from:
M. Jacqui Alexander, Xtal Azul, Kiara Brown, champoy, Malkia Devich-Cyril, Ashara Ekundayo, Takiyah Franklin, Alexis Pauline Gumbs, Shah Noor Hussein, Alie Jones, Cherríe Moraga, Pratibha Parmar, Kiara Sample, Dora Silva Santana, Dagmar Schultz, Eric Stanley, Amara Tabor-Smith, and Leila Weefur.
A documentary video of all our magic is coming soon in 2025.
In November, I was blessed to perform in a new piece alongside amara tabor-smith at Dance Mission Theater’s DIRT Festival. Our performance, a reckoning with time, invited the audience into bravery and sweetness, asking them to feel how deeply our wishes, and our struggles, are woven together.
Alexa Burrell created a moving soundscape for the piece.
Robbie Sweeny took these stunning photos.
Upcoming Exhibitions & Performances
My short film documenting Bendición is on view in Ecologies of Peace at C3A in Córdoba, Spain, through March 30th, 2025. I also published a new essay on the work, Flood: A Meditation in Seven Movements, in their exhibition catalogue.
I’m looking forward to sharing my upcoming exhibition schedule with you soon, so be on the lookout for exhibitions on three continents in 2025!
Altar wear is still up for grabs, and I’d love to see you how you style it.
New designs coming in 2025.
Thanks, as always, for tuning in. Until next time.
Peace,
C