DIALOGUES \ HOW WE GET OVER

A conversation series for the art community in the DMV.

Dialogues is a space for the art community to gather and share our resources and experiences. Our hope is to be able to facilitate meaningful conversations and provide the space for these conversation in our gallery, however during this time we have moved to a digital platform.

The works of Janae Williams, Amber J. Phillips, and J. Bouey vary tremendously; however, their work's impact and impetus have a keen eye on black queerness and the love and profound liberation made possible through it. 

In "How we get over," the trio will discuss the labor of love black artists are currently taking on to provide mutual aid and craft cradles of collective support for each other to survive and thrive in and through this pandemic. 

In the conversation, we will: 

• Celebrate the innovation inherent in the work of ensuring the survival of black artists 

• Connect contemporary (pre and during Corona) instances of black artist mutual aid to the generations-long legacy of black queer/femme mutual aid and support, 

• Identify how these approaches may serve as alternatives to the white middle-class dominant culture that governs the practices of the non-profit industrial complex 

• Envision, together, the futures we desire and are working towards for black queer and femme artists and black people altogether 

LOG IN INFO WILL BE PROVIDED PRIOR TO THE EVENT

\ OUR HOSTS

Janae Williams/juh weems/fatblackclit. In the ancient legacy and vastness of black femmehood, juh is a: photographer, painter, digital visual artist, vocalist, movement artist, and DJ. She is the creative co-director and lead organizer of the DC-based Black Femme Brunch, a community that cultivates radical, irreverent and unapologetic celebration of black trans and queer femmes of all (or no) genders. While in residence as a 2019-20 Halcyon Arts Lab Fellow, juh is developing interdisciplinary works that stretch and perforate the edges of what black liberation can be and look like through a practice founded in play, experimentation, and improvisation.

J. Bouey is a current member of the Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane Company and founder and co-host of The Dance Union Podcast with Melanie Greene. J. performed with Elisa Monte Dance as an apprentice, Christal Brown's INSPIRIT Dance Company, AntonioBrownDance, Germaul Barnes' Viewsic Dance, Dante Brown | Warehouse Dance, and Maria Bauman's MBDance. As a choreographer, J. Bouey has shown their original work at The Chocolate Factory, New York Live Arts, Judson Church, Brooklyn Arts Exchange, Gibney Dance, BAAD!, CPR – Center for Performance Research, La Mama Experimental Theatre and South Mountain Center for Performing Arts. J. Bouey received a BFA in Dance from Arizona State University.

Amber J. Phillips (she/her) is a storyteller, political content & narrative strategist, and Reproductive Justice activist. Amber's work imagines a world where Black womanhood is an expansive overwhelming experience of safety, pleasure, and joy. She has been featured on ESSENCE, Huffington Post, and NPR's 1A. She is also the co-creator and co-host of The Black Joy Mixtape Podcast.