The News
SOMArts Cultural Center & The News presents
Speaking Of…NIGGA.
June 7, 7:30pm
SOMArts 934 Brannan St.
Free
Website: www.somarts.org
Social Media: www.Facebook.com/somarts and on Instagram and Twitter @somarts.
The News: “Speaking Of…NIGGA.” a collected/collective conscious of Black Folk
Beginning with the dance prayer and ritual of our ancestors, spirituality and identity have been PERFORMED. Why do Queer people of color find it necessary to perform our ethnic and sexual identities? How has being classified as marginalized amplified our performative bodies? Are we performing? and “IS ALL THAT REALLY NECESSARY!!!?”
ARTISTS’ BIOGRAPHIES
Dazié Rustin Grego is a poet, performance artist and activist. Dazié’s performance work and style was developed at The Experimental Performance Institute at New College San Francisco where he received his BA in Queer Performance and Activism. He has developed and produced several solo plays including 3, Where Is Adam and I AM A MAN.Currently Dazié is studying to receive his MFA in Creative Inquiry at The California Institute of Integral Studies.
“My process begins with resistance. This “resistance” was created when I discovered the world was not prepared for me to express and exist as my authentic self. As a child, my imagination created a new world and new belief systems. From this came a communication style that has been called “art.” Interacting with “performance” as “art” allows me to create and manipulate perception. My work suggests and indicates alternative belief systems that are sustainable and empowering.
Jezebel Delilah X is a queer, lush-bodied, Black, femme performance artist, writer, actress, filmmaker, educator, facilitator, orator and Faerie Princess Mermaid Gangsta for The Revolution. She loves to flirt, laugh, perform, crack corny jokes, and insert Octavia Butler references into every conversation. She is a Co-Managing Editor for Everyday Feminism; co-host of the queer/feminist Open Mic, Culture Fuck; Creative Director of queer, Black, multi-disciplinary performance troupe, Congregation of Liberation; and one of the founding members of Deviant Type Press. She has performed in a wide variety of Queer and Queer People Of Color theatre projects and cabarets, and has been a featured reader at literary events all over the Bay Area. She uses a combination of memoir, poetry, theatre, and feminist storytelling to advance her politix of radical love, socioeconomic justice, anti-racism, community accountability, critical reflection, love, healing, and liberation. She loves romantic songs, romantic films, romantic books, romantic conversations, romantic friendships, and writing long, vulnerable, passionate facebook statuses about romance.
Ngaire, a Florida native, began her artistic journey through various musical collaborations 15 years ago. Ngaire’s voice has been described as achingly sweet. Her poignant, personal lyrics portray both vulnerability and strength, insecurity and love. All of this adds up to an intimate musical experience that Ngaire hopes will resonate with listeners mentally, spiritually, and emotionally. Ngaire is a lover & a fighter. She values creating space for all of us to connect back to ourselves, nature and back to each other.
Derrick Miller-Handley is a Graphic Designer And Illustrator. Derrick will be showing a series of images he has created.
Derrick believes in the power of affirming human experience and our relationships with the world around us through creative endeavors and community enterprise—to ultimately define our world on our terms. Most recently, Derrick has worked at the intersection of arts and youth development, creating public art works in partnership with LGBTQ youth in New York and San Francisco that explore themes of health, gender, race and community. Derrick is a recent graduate of Pratt Institute and currently works as a visual designer in New York. His work has been featured in Celebrate! San Francisco, posterland.org, NYCxDesign, NY1 News, and Amazon Fashion.
