Top: Negarra Kudumu, Bottom Left: Sharon Arnold, Bottom Right: Temar France.
What a wild ride to get here, but recording has FINALLY begun on the next segment for Critical Bounds. Our 2nd segment deals with the connections between contemporary spiritual practice and artistic practices.
Our guests for this segment include three incredibly talented, multifaceted individuals who both create and work adjacently to artistic practice, while engaging with spirituality as a way to heal Self and Others.
Negarra Kudumu (she/her) is the current manager of Public Programs at Seattle’s Frye Art Museum, a critic, writer, author of the e-book Spiritual Hygiene, a curator, scholar, and healer.
In addition to her artistic practice, Negarra is a “…Yayi Nkisi Malongo (priestess) in the Brama Con Brama lineage of the Afro-Cuban Palo Mayombe tradition; she is a lay practitioner in the Pimienta lineage of the Afro-Cuban Lukumi tradition, as well as a level II Reiki practitioner.”
Sharon Arnold “…(she/they) is a queer independent scholar, writer, and educator working in arts, activism, politics, and cultural histories. They approach this work through the examination of capitalist systems, settler colonialism, community ecosystems, and solidarity networks to support new paths forward. Descended from multiple Northern European-American lineages, they identify themselves as a person working within syncretic folk traditions, primarily rooted in the study of Irish and American traditions and folklore. While they’ve had a lifelong personal spiritual practice, their work has recently shifted towards more public-facing service with a committed devotion to community, land, and spirit.”
Sharon is the founder/owner of Bridge Productions, and currently teaches critical and cultural theory as well as curatorial ethics and practices at Cornish College of the Arts. In addition to their art-related teaching, Sharon has developed a curriculum on Plant Medicine (Plant Medicine Lab), and Ancestral Reconnection and Restorative Practices at Seattle’s Madrona House Apothecary + Healing Arts.
Temar France (she/they) “is a multi-media artist and cultural studies scholar from New York City. She received a degree in Africana Studies from Smith College in 2018 and is known as the co-creater and host of Marginalia Podcast where she and co-host Auralynn Rosario (fellow Magic Grant recipient) discuss the impact of cisheteropatriarchy in black women’s sexual lives. Temar is also one half of The Rap Scholars podcast and is currently writing about the critical role of black women in hip hop.
Temar is inspired by her love for visual culture and powerful expression as tool for life and liberation. You can find out more about her and her work at TemarFrance.com.” She can also be found on Twitter @etmafrance.
I am incredibly honoured to converse with these truly amazing creatives. Stay tuned—our first episode (recorded at Jack Straw Cultural Center in Seattle) from this segment with Temar France will be released within the week!
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