2021 COHORT MEMBER PROJECTS

BRIAN BAZEMORE, PROJECT X

ABOUT THE PROJECT:

Project X is a multi-media art installation that connects the throughlines of racism and white supremacy culture in the United States. 

Brian Bazemore is self-taught visual artist who has been making art in his community for over thirty years. I work with paints, metal, text, photographs, found objects and organic materials, to create installations, sculptures, paintings and mixed media artworks. 

His work is rooted in the physical and emotional environment of his life, family and community.

RIKEYAH LINDSAY,

THE LIVE IN

ABOUT THE PROJECT:

Pop up street theater performances on street corners in West Philadelphia to address instances of violence and death in the community and resist the explicit genocide that black and brown men have faced in this country that we have now become unknowing and willing particiants of. The objective is to give young black men a new narrative of who they are and what their contribution to the world is and can be. Hopefully this will reduce the criminal activity in the area.

Rikeyah Lindsay is a single black mother in America. She is raising a little black boy in the Mantua section of West Philadelphia, praying he and every other innocent inner city youth be able to advance beyond the many threats to their cherished existence for simply being born black. She is an advocate and actionist for the children, youth, and families of Mantua. She is a servant and stakeholder in the community, working with many of the area organizations to uphold and uplift the community. She is currently employed as the Program Assistant at Mt. Vernon Manor CDC, where she assists with the Neighborhood Advisory Committee, helps neighbors to access city resources, and works to improve issues of public safety and health within the community. She developed the idea for her InQbate project, “The Live In” because she wants to mitigate the instances of  violence in the neighborhood.  By forcing young men to face the traumas of gun violence firsthand and giving them an alternative narrative of who they are and what is possible for their futures, she hopes to restore the values or self-worth, honor, and brotherhood to local and distant black inner city youth and advance their life expectancies far beyond a 25th birthday!

MELANNIE TAYLOR

THE VOICE OF MOD3 AND ASD 

ABOUT THE PROJECT:

A guided maze installation environment/experience that speaks to the conditions for women and gender oppressed individuals currently incarcerated at MOD3 and ASD. The multimedia installation will share letters from incarcerated people and utilize shadow light ensemble movement as the precursor to advocating for and alongside with the compassionate release of the women of Riverside Correctional Facility to have a voice and advocate for their release.

Melannie Taylor (She/They) is a Black Director, Playwright and Artivist dedicated to the holding space and reverence for Black people in america that seeks healing and Justice. They were Born and Raised in Pittsburgh Pa and are currently working with the Dignity Act Now Collective as Co- founder and Director of Theatre of the Liberated.  They developed the Idea for their InQbate project  The Voice of Mod3 and ASD because they want to bring awareness and awaken the community of Philadelphia on the conditions of the Incarceration System. They attended University of the Arts.

Hà Phạm

CREATING OUR LOVED SPACE: FROM CARDBOARD TO DREAM CULTIVATION

ABOUT THE PROJECT:

What makes you feel safe? What makes you feel loved? How do you love your community? A dream cultivation with the community about what safety and liberation for all look & feel like using cardboard and daily household materials. This project was inspired by a personal immigration journey searching for a place that feels like home and finding those moments of “home” offered by the communities around me rather than a physical place.

hà was born and raised in Việt Nam and currently lives in West Philadelphia.

They are a daydreamer, a child who learned first love through plants and dirt, a person who once seeked science to rationalize life events and now finds comfort in being inspired by feelings (personal and collective). They’ve been learning to bring out all parts of themselves and becoming whole throughout InQbate, all toward the love for the collective community. They believe that while data can inform us, feelings move us, and actions shall transform us.

They developed the idea for their InQbate project, Creating our loved space: from cardboard to dream cultivation, because they want to lift up how the daily acts fit into the art of liberation and that safety & love can only exist at collective level.