We're environmentalists, you know, and it's not that we're like, okay, we have to save the, get the plastic, like, yes, do the plastic thing, you know, all of the recycling, all of that, but like, what is the duty to our space around us, our human to human engagement, our human to trees, to water, to bird, you know, like, that's, environmentalism for us. - Orlando

Show Notes Episode 08: Black on Earth

In this special episode to kick off 2024 and the second season of the podcast, Norah Zuniga Shaw hosts a conversation with Orlando Zane Hunter Jr. and Ricarrdo Valentine, co-creators of Brother(hood) Dance! Orlando and Ricarrdo highlight the role of dance as a powerful tool for storytelling, community engagement, and environmental activism. The discussion centers around their creative work, which integrates performance, agriculture, and technology to address social and ecological justice issues and envision livable futures. Orlando and Ricarrdo emphasize their commitment to informing audiences about sociopolitical and environmental injustices from a global perspective. The conversation touches on their rootedness in community including their approach to entering new communities with care. They share experiences of engaging with agricultural spaces, promoting dance as an integral part of agricultural practice, and encouraging communities, especially Black communities, to reconnect with farming traditions.

The podcast delves into the significance of rest in performance and agricultural work alike, the reclaiming of nature as a Black space, and the importance of acknowledging the historical trauma associated with land and labor. Ricarrdo also shares personal reflections on health, HIV, and his evolving relationship with nature, emphasizing the interconnectedness of personal well-being and environmental stewardship. The conversation touches on the cyclical nature of struggle and the need for collective action to break oppressive cycles and the importance of ethical engagement with technology in creating spaces for healing and transformation.

The artists and host sing together and invite audiences into singing new songs linked to old wisdom. Brother(hood) Dance!’s new project, Black on Earth, is featured and the artists share the ways in which it expands on previous work, integrating technology and organic interfaces to tell stories and foster connections with the land. The conversation ends with reflections on the power of art to evoke emotions, challenge narratives, and inspire collective action.

Links:

Wexner Center for the Arts feature on Brother(hood) Dance!

Brother(hood) Dance! Website

Environmental Professionals Network features Brother(hood) Dance!

Visual artists Amy Youngs and Candace Thompson work closely with ecology and technology to create communal, joyful, and loved filled connections to each other and the more-than-human world with whom we share the planet. Respond to the uncertainty we are experiencing on a planetary scale by becoming deeply embedded in your local community and aware of the plant life around you as you forage for food in your neighborhoods throughout the changing seasons of the year.

Faustin Linyekula is as an important international artist, he's also the founder of Studio Kabakao, a space for young artists in Kisangani and from the African continent to work in collaboration with communities on issues of sustainability and environment. 

Learn more:

My Body My Archive, watch Faustin Linyekula live at the Tate Modern

https://vimeo.com/399196063

NZ Festival of the Arts: Talanoa Mao conference

https://www.festival.nz/events/talanoa-mau/

In Search of Dinozord performance by Faustin Linyekula

https://www.festival.nz/events/all/search-dinozord/

Faustin Linyekula Biography, University of the Arts

https://www.uarts.edu/node/11791

Interview with Brenda Dixon Gottschild

https://walkerart.org/magazine/my-africa-is-always-in-the-becoming-outside-t

NYTimes article: https://www.nytimes.com/2017/09/05/arts/dance/faustin-linyekula-crossing-the-line-congo.html?smid=pin-share

Cover Photo adapted from NYTimes image by George Etheredge (link above).