Z
ainab is a performance artist; an actor for the stage, television and film. Skilled in West African Dance, she comes to the expression of the body as a vital religious practice of her human right to freedom of expression. Z is thrilled and blessed to be invited back to Pillsbury House theater where her mentors and artistic family of support are found.
From Zainab:
This community continues to provide a platform for visionary art activists. I’m honored to dust up the stage, I want to thank you e.g. bailey and the Late Night community for this chance. May the spirit of Laurie Carlos continue to bless this art and light the way forward. I was honored to have met her and drive her one time in my little green truck. She encouraged me. Saw me. And invited me toward my own art nourishment.
Thank you to; Ananya Chatterjea ADT Dance, Mixed Blood Theatre, Sam
Johnson SUPERGROUP, Renae Copeland. BIG thank you to the following folks; Stephanie Watts, Chitra Varivan, Eric F Avery and Junada Alma. A HUGE thank you to Sha Cage you just keep dreaming, and I keep seeing them. These butterflies of hope and inspiration STILL the air some how!!! Thank you for your continued trust and support. Minnesota and the world is so blessed by your abundance of spirit and innovation.
About the piece:
My piece for Late Nite came to approximately 18 months prior to the election of 45. Walking the streets of New York I would often meditate on my relation to planetary citizenship. What propaganda is broadcast as real vs what is fake seemed to unfold with a carnival like level of amusement. I share the dough of my brain as intending to heal the trauma of CPTSD. At the time that I was invited to share with you at Late Night I had separated from my former partner of 12 years. The labor borne during in a decade long interracial union revealed landmines of painful surprises. Similarly I asked myself repeatedly what and who had I invited into my heart and psyche, when the man I once loved revealed himself to me a stranger, a magician and master of double speak. Under 45 black African women daily navigate domestic and professional landscapes. To survive these social warzones we must stifle our anger. And this requires us to smile and tolerate an increasing level of silence, violence and/or confusion from would be allies. They continue to ask us: what would you have us do to demonstrate solidarity. What is real and what is fake: aren’t you making it up as you go along?