Recently, my friend and organizer, Carolyn Hitt, shared some "behind the scenes" clips from SITES OF POWER with "the Cones"-- a nickname for the motley creators or "Relevant Unknowns" who make up the Blue Cone Studios community in Seattle. From this act of pure spontaneity came these 4 amazing musical adaptations based on original audio from the exhibition. The video above includes adapted audio produced by Intylekt of BOC Music. Follow on IG: @intylektboc @bocmusiconline
The video above was directed/edited by me (Natasha Marin) using archival footage from my visit to Zanzibar, Tanzania (in the Before Times). While I was visiting Tanzania, I was lucky to connect with some amazing people at Nafasi Art Space in Dar es Salaam. Click below to hear the original audio from contributor, Cyreeta Mitchell.
+ experiments
The video above was directed/edited by me (Natasha Marin) using archival footage from moments in my life that made me feel renewed and refreshed. The lullaby I am singing in the original clip under the video, "The Goddess Dwells Inside of Me" was written, composed, and taught to me by Christina Springer in Serifos, Greece when my son was only 6 months old. He turns 10 years old in February. The video above also includes adapted audio produced by Ready Ron Beats. Click below to hear the original audio by yours truly. Warning: I am not one of those angelic-voiced human beings who can make the skin on your scalp tighten with only my throat chakra.
The video above was directed/edited by me (Natasha Marin) using footage of me and my kiddo brushing our teeth first with turmeric and coconut oil, then with activated charcoal powder, and finally with toothpaste. The absolutely dope af track in the background is by Acacia and James Porter of Peace and Red Velvet.
Click below to hear the original audio by contributor, Hasaan Kirkland.
The video above was directed/edited by me (Natasha Marin) using footage of contributor, Evie/Lumi T. and my kiddo, Sagan over a span of years. The haunting track in the background is by contributor and Cone, Jenn Moore.
Click below to hear the original audio tracks by contributors, Amber F. and Evie/Lumi T..
January 2021: I collaborated with ASL Translator, Stephen Mogul, to adapt Darnita Boynton Howard's story about her childhood into American Sign Language.
December 2020: I collaborated with dancer, Sharon Atieno, to adapt Darnita Boynton Howard's story about her childhood into movement. + Listen
Tyisha Nedd: My Notes on "Leilani":
Leilani is many things—the human, whose voice guides us through an intimate creative process, and the title of the work.
While creating Leilani we take cues from a pre-recorded text, expanding our duet to a trio. Phrases such as, “I have to go deeper” or “it just evolved” are the guiding forces for this work. We want not only to honor and embody the words spoken, we want to tap into the essence, the sensation underneath words. Our process follows the emotional timbre of what Leilani’s spoken word evokes in us. The ritual of repetition guides our process as we repeat movements and sounds—our tools for accessing evolution. We ask several questions while in process.
”What do these words feel like in the body?”
“Where do they resonate in us?”
“How do the words connect us to each other, ourselves and Leilani?”
“What sounds do the words evoke?”
Those questions allowed us to take a deep dive into the collaborative space of our trio.
We move and vocalize from the answers to those questions, and our process brings evolution into our hands by “unpacking love” as we rock in tandem, palpating where trauma is nestled in the torso, expanding and contracting care and creative space through the arms, drawing sounds of healing up from our roots and out of our mouths, welcoming boredom baths, and by leaning on intimacy.
Kneading is many things—an action, a ritual, a universe and the title of this work. Ritual acts ground the process of creating the work Kneading. Curated by Natasha Marin, Black Imagination houses the texts “Ritual for Rehealing“ and “Ritual for Broken Feelings,” the inspirations for Kneading. While in process we draw from the images that evoke a sense of play, otherworldliness, and connection in order to access the protection and healing that rituals offer. Our personal embodiment of rituals, crafted from the words of our inspired texts, form the universe we now call Kneading. In this universe, protected by a sphere a Play doh, we recognize the relationship between ritual and play, leading us to remember the wisdom within childhood rituals.
Avery Redic is a Brooklyn based Interdisciplinary artist, and the musician who accompanies me in the piece "Leilani."
Erika Schultz is so generous!
It matters a lot to me how Erika Schultz regards the world around her and the way she has seen me as a beautiful part of it. I included Erika’s photographs in this otherwise Blackety Black exhibition because it felt like it would disrespect the joyful moments that happened when real live Black People gathered together in front of her camera in the “Before Times” at Virago Gallery in Seattle not to. And even before that, Erika has been there for me. She’s been a witness for years and she has earned my trust. The quality of her allyship and her exquisite eye are undeniable. Find her online.
