Museum of the African Diaspora 685 Mission Street
Thu
Jul 11, 2019
3:00 am
 - 
3:30 am
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About

In this weekly summer series, eight Bay Area poets share new poems created in response to the current exhibitions.  They will also describe the processes they employ in writing ekphrastic work.  Come and see, come and listen, come and experience the art that moves your spirit to consider power and liberation.

June 6 - August 1 feature individual performances.

These readings and discussions culminate in the MoAD Salon with an evening of wine and performance by all the poets in this series on August 8.

Community Voices: Poets Speak is curated by Raina J. León.

The exhibition on view is Coffee, Rhum, Sugar & Gold: A Postcolonial Paradox.

Coffee, Rhum, Sugar & Gold: A Postcolonial Paradox looks at the legacy of European colonialism in the Caribbean through the work of 10 contemporary artists. Whether connected to the Caribbean by birth or focused on the region by choice, the exhibiting artists use their work as a means of examining the relationship between the power structure, those who are controlled by it, those who benefit from it, and those who actively seek to liberate themselves from it. A key driver of the exhibition is the theory that colonialism has continued to exist in other forms, and is in fact spreading through the export of soft power, the use of military force, the control of international financial and banking mechanisms, as well as the increase in globalization.

Featured Poet

Thea Matthews

Thea Matthews is a poet / scholar / activist born and raised in San Francisco, CA. She writes on the complexities of humanity, resiliency, and ultimately, the triumph over trauma; and is currently finishing her debut collection of poetry. She is a seasoned performer and has delivered her poetry at various curated readings and literary festivals, some of which include: Hazel Reading Series, Lyrics & Dirges, Red Light Lit, Cleave: Bay Area Women Writers, Mission Arts Performance Project (MAPP), Gears Turning, Poem Jam, LitQuake, LitCrawl, the 16th Annual Berkeley Poetry Festival, and the 11th annual Beat Poetry Festival.

She was an artist-in-residence for RADAR Productions spring 2018, and is part of Alley Cat Books’ spring 2019 writer residency. She is also a Tin House Scholar; and has work featured in For Harriet’s Soar, Rag Queen Periodical, The Feminist Wire, FORUM, and For Women Who Roar.

More info: www.theamatthews.com | IG: https://www.instagram.com/theamatthews_/

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