Bridging Gaps From the Past to the Present and to the Future
View Our 3D Virtual Gallery Below, Hosted by Kunstmatrix.com
Enjoy a guided tour or view at your own pace! Artwork & image descriptions included!
Art & Mind 2023: I Know Who I am! Journeys of Women of Color & Femme-Expressing Creatives
Our second show, "I Know Who I Am!" occurred October 5th 2023. This event, inspired by co-founder Claire Jones' 2022 journey through diffuse large B-cell lymphoma and near paralysis, was our first event where we gained grants and sponsorships. Five artists - Haisi Hu, Kai Thaís, Tennesha Skyerrs, The Lady Ms Vagina Jenkins and SabiLewSounds (Sabina Lewis) from the U.S and Canada premiered in a 27 minute documentary, with a goal of highlighting women of color & femme-expressing creatives of color who've found solace & healing through art. In addition, with the help of our first Art Direction Team, we created a documentary about Claire's cancer journey titled, "A 50% Chance of Paralysis: Get Ahead of Life Before Life Gets Ahead of You!"
The poster is a digitally drawn sunflower field. These sunflowers are a mustard yellow with orange highlights. The centers of the sunflowers are brown and black. The sunflowers fade into the background, leading to green and grey mountains with an abstract curly pattern at their bases. The mountains are rounded at the top, and fade into a whitish green. The sky is blue with white paint splotches and swirls as clouds.Three mustard yellow circles are lined up in the middle of the poster.
A nude voluptuous brown woman holding a red cane with a white handle in front of her, stands at the edge of a clear pond.
The poster is a digitally drawn sunflower field. These sunflowers are a mustard yellow with orange highlights. The centers of the sunflowers are brown and black. The sunflowers fade into the background, leading to green and grey mountains with an abstract curly pattern at their bases. The mountains are rounded at the top, and fade into a whitish green. The sky is blue with white paint splotches and swirls as clouds.Three mustard yellow circles are lined up in the middle of the poster.
A digital cartoon drawing of Claire & Amaranthia sits on top of a digital collage of a digitally drawn sunflower field. Photos of Claire’s cancer journey, from photos of her spinal scar to pictures of her first steps after surgery and photos of Amaranthia and Claire celebrating Sista Creatives Rising’s Art & Mind event. Hand drawn text bubbles that are white with red handwriting explain the imagery. The two cartoon drawings are drawn with white and black outlines, making them look like a cut-out
Amaranthia, a 23 year old Black woman, and her 60-year old Mom, Claire Jones, are shown sitting on their back porch steps with trees and a bright blue sky behind them. They are looking up at the sky. Amaranthia, to the right, is wearing a punk style leather jacket, black and white striped leggings with sunflower prints, and a black and white jagged striped crop top. Claire is wearing a vibrant red, green and yellow large thin scarf and dress with white pants and a denim jacket.
Event Impact
The Art & Mind 2023 event was an 11-month endeavor. Our Givebutter.com page went public in late August 2023 to allow people to receive tickets and to begin fundraising for our Sistas Uprising Fund, where we develop microgrants for marginalized women & femme-expressing creatives. In 2023, we were sponsored by Brain Arts Org and Dancing Queerly Boston. The Mass Cultural Council and The Puffin Foundation provided additional funding.
Our Sistas Uprising Fund goal was $1000 to develop five $200 microgrants. Through Givebutter.com, we reached $1453, allowing us to release seven grants in early Spring 2024. We had 91 supporters on our GiveButter page and 45+ attendees with high audience participation.
Artist Documentary
In our film with the same name as the event,
our five chosen artists from our June 2023 open call shared narrative videos compiled into a 27-minute documentary. Each artist filmed disability-accessible videos about their experience with various social issues and how art is a healing tool for them.
Initiative Statement
Intergenerational dysfunctions linked to race, sexuality, and gender can subconsciously impact the lives of women of color and femme-expressing folks of color, complicating our relationship with ourselves. The basis of several of these issues can be linked back to the chaos and destruction caused by colonialism. Confronting these issues through creative and artistic endeavors can catalyze us to embrace ourselves as whole, healthy beings.
These stories show how art can be used to empower yourself and for emotional & spiritual healing. We hope our efforts to bring folks together to tell these triumphant, empowering stories will spark healing discussions across cultures and communities, resulting in solidarity.
The Five Art & Mind Documentary Artists
Documentary: "A 50% Chance of Paralysis: Get Ahead of Life Before Life Get's Ahead of You"
SISTA CREATIVES RISING PRESENTS Art & Mind An “I Know Who I Am” Virtual Fundraiser & Film Event Documentary About Cancer A 50% CHANCE OF PARALYSIS: Get Ahead of Life Before Life Gets Ahead of You! Art by Amaranthia Sepia Additional coloring by Linlin Yu. A nude voluptuous brown woman holding a red cane with a white handle in front of her, stands at the edge of a clear pond shaped like Earth.
Claire, an older Black woman with a shaved head, receiving assistance from two physical therapists, their heads censored with sunflowers drawn by Amaranthia. One is on her left and one is on her right helping her walk the first time after spinal surgery. Claire is using a walker, and is wearing a large brace that covers her neck and torso. Claire is also wearing a hospital gown. Everyone is wearing a mask.
Claire is wearing a white kimono style cardigan with an orange, brown and red flower pattern. She is wearing a white halter jumpsuit under it. SHe is standing between two medium sized pine trees with the sun shining down on her. Both of Claire's arms are raised. In her left hand is her white flower patterned cane and a pink tiny Japanese coin bag.
SISTA CREATIVES RISING PRESENTS Art & Mind An “I Know Who I Am” Virtual Fundraiser & Film Event Documentary About Cancer A 50% CHANCE OF PARALYSIS: Get Ahead of Life Before Life Gets Ahead of You! Art by Amaranthia Sepia Additional coloring by Linlin Yu. A nude voluptuous brown woman holding a red cane with a white handle in front of her, stands at the edge of a clear pond shaped like Earth.
Sponsored by Dancing Queerly Boston, Claire faces her trauma by navigating physical and occupational therapy to be one of the 1% that can walk again after a high-risk lymphoma spinal tumor surgery. This showcase reflects how stereotypes, misogynoir, and expectations placed on Black women of the diaspora can manifest as health crises.
FEATURING A PLETHORA OF ART:
- ORIGINAL MUSIC COMPOSED BY AUSTRALIAN DISABLED AGENDER COMPOSER MEL CHILIANIS
- CLAIRE'S ORIGINAL SPOKEN WORD POEMS PAIRED WITH PERFORMANCE ART
- VISUAL NARRATIVES AND INTERVIEWS BETWEEN CLAIRE & HER DAUGHTER, CO-CREATOR AMARANTHIA SEPIA
Our 2023 Event Speakers
Since we are disabled and immunocompromised, still masking, and "Still COVIDing," Our show included talks from Black activists - immunocompromised COVID Conscious Therapist Speaker Amanda McGuire, MC and Therapist Journee LaFond, Disability Speaker Jacquese Armstrong and a feature showcasing our art direction team.
Meet Our First Art Direction Team
Featuring Testimonials From Composer Mel Chilianis, Assistant Graphic Designer & Video Editor Nabila Nugroho, Script Editor and Outreach Coordinator Cristina Deptula & Assistant Art Director + Captioner Linlin Yu
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