Asya Abdrahman, Faith Adiele, Tonya M. Foster: March 8, 2017

Tags

aba women's movement aba women's war activism aesthetics africa african american artists african american poets african american writers anti-colonial feminism aristotle art art and activism art installation asya abdrahaman berkeley, california berkeley protest blackness borders british empire california college of the arts caribbean china citizenship civil war colonialism community congo square corruption daniel anderson diaspora disasters displacement east africa environment eritrea ethiopia faith adiele family female genital mutilation frederick douglass george oppen golden gate bridge harlem healing home homelessness houston, texas hurricane katrina igbo peoples igbo tribe immigrants international women's day italo calvino james alan mcpherson jersey city lake merritt landlessness language loki louisiana martin luther king, jr. mary oppen maurice blanchot mediterranean sea migration mississippi delta mississippi river mixed media mothers museum of the african diaspora music music videos muslims new orleans new york city nigeria nigerian civil war nordic tales oakland, california oppression oprah winfrey paintings pay it forward gallery places plato poetry coalition poverty presidential election project oceanus public broadcasting service (pbs) public libraries ralph ellison refugees san francisco sculpture self-care sisters slave trade somalia spaces sudan survival tina turner toni morrison tonya m. foster united nations high commission on refugees (unchr) visual arts war washington state waste whiteness women artists women poets women's bodies women's march women writers yemen

The Poetry Center and the Museum of the African Diaspora co-present artist Asya Abdrahman and writers Faith Adiele and Tonya M. Foster, each presenting their work then responding to questions from the audience. The program, titled "Navigating Space for Women," took place at MoAD, San Francisco, within the context of the exhibition "Where Is Here" (curated by Jacqueline Francis and Kathy Zarur) and in celebration of International Women's Day, and was co-sponsored by MoAD and the Poetry Center. During March 2017, all Poetry Center programs were dedicated to the theme "Because We Come from Everything: Poetry and Migration," shared with 30+ organizations across the US engaged in the Poetry Coalition.

Originally Recorded By
DocFilm Institute
Location
Museum of the African Diaspora, San Francisco
Date
03/08/2017
Total Run Time
01:15:29
Contributor
Elizabeth Gessel, Kathy Zarur, Jacqueline Francis
Rights
©© American Poetry Archives. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License. For all other uses please email poetry@sfsu.edu
Views
3471
Downloads
317

Asya Abdrahman (00:19:57)

Click here to listen to this audio file

Elizabeth Gessel, associate director of public programs at MoAD, welcomes the audience and introduces Steve Dickison and then Kathy Zarus, who speaks about the exhibit Where is Here. She introduces contributing artist Asya Abdrahman, who explains her work "In Her Footsteps." "In Her Footsteps" uses mixed media to explain Abdrahman's sister's and mother's journeys through shoes. Abdrahman then plays a music video titles "Dangerous Crossings" before presenting a slideshow which displays the intersections between art and activism and the ways artists can participate in their community.

Faith Adiele (00:10:16)

Click here to listen to this audio file

Kathy Zarur introduces Faith Adiele. Adiele reads "As soon as we crossed the border...," a work in progress from her upcoming manuscript African Girl Guide to Returning, which follows four generations on three continents, Africa, Europe, and North America. She also discusses her upbringing and her return to her familial village in Nigeria that inspired her work.

Tonya M. Foster (00:04:43)

Click here to listen to this audio file

Kathy Zarur introduces Tonya M. Foster. Foster reads from "A Mathematics of Chaos" [note: recording is interrupted] and from "New Orleans Bibliography."

Conversation (00:27:49)

Click here to listen to this audio file

Asya Abdrahman, Faith Adiele, and Tonya M. Foster take questions from the audience. They discuss how events such as Hurricane Katrina and wars can defamiliarize what you once thought was home Abdrahman relates this to her work with natural resources and how her culture believes that those who own the land are the richest. While Abdrahaman feels her homeland keeps appearing and reappearing due to politics, Foster contends there is no homeland for blacks, which explains her language of displacement in her poetry. Adiele believes that her writing creates the home; Foster looks at home in relation to family; and Abdrahman things home is where you are at the moment. They also discuss art as political activism and art as healing during a time of political upheaval.

Related Items

Erica Hunt, The George Oppen Memorial Lecture: December 12, 2020 Ai and Faye Kicknosway: November 14, 1974 Nikki Giovanni: December 4, 1984 Wanda Coleman: October 14, 1982 Jayne Cortez: April 12, 1985 Erica Hunt and Marty Ehrlich: April 3, 2014 Alice Walker at San Jose State University: April 10, 1976 jayy dodd and Lourdes Figueroa: October 28, 2021 erica lewis and Christine No: March 12, 2022 Krip-Hop Nation: March 5, 2022 Women's rights demonstration at UC Berkeley Maya Angelou: October 14, 1971 Audre Lorde and Etheridge Knight: September 26, 1974 In Honor of Audre Lorde and Pat Parker—featuring Judy Grahn, Jewelle Gomez, Avotcja, Arisa White, Leila Weefur, Angela Hume: November 5, 2020 Monique Wittig and Jayne Cortez: April 12, 1985 Kiki Petrosino and Tongo Eisen-Martin: December 1, 2022 Alghaita (reed wind instrument) Vi Khi Nao and Dao Strom: February 24, 2021 Wanda Coleman: April 4, 2013 Erica Hunt and Marty Ehrlich at Center for New Music: April 4, 2014