Museum of the African Diaspora 685 Mission Street
Thu
Jul 18, 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

Tureeda Mikell

Tureeda  a.k.a. Toreadah—Story Medicine Woman, Poet Instructor, Chi Gong  Energy Therapist, award-winning poet, educator—is director of Tree of Life Health Literacy Project, published nationally and internationally, published over 60 at risk student anthologies throughout 4 counties in the San Francisco bay area, was Eth-Noh-Tec NU Wa International Storytelling Delegate in Beijing, China, October 2018, was delegate for National and International Writing Project, Writing for the Urban Child.

Tureeda has been called an Activist for Holism, Word Magician, and Woman of Truths hell bent on Asserting Life.  She has introduced renowned poets and writers such as The Last poets, Amiri Baraka, Marvin X, and a host of other established writers and poets.

Recent publications include, Black Gold, The Anthology, Reflections (in collaboration with Emmy Award winning artist James Gayles,) and 20 Year Anniversary of Drum Voices Revue, Volume 17.

Tureeda draws upon her other lives as a nurse, lab tech in a psychiatric institution, and investigative news reporter.  Her manuscript entitled ‘Synchronicity’ was recently accepted by Nomadic Press for 2019 publication.

SPD is the only non-profit literary distributor in the US. Founded in 1969, everything we do is aimed at helping essential but underrepresented literary communities participate fully in the marketplace and in the culture at large. We do this by offering book distribution, information services, and public advocacy programs to hundreds of small publishers. Ultimately, we work to connect readers with writers through independently publishers literature, getting books into the hands of those who want to read them.

Public programs at MoAD are supported in part by Target.

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