The US premiere is being directed by Connecticut artist and co-founder of Kukily, Colleen Ndemeh Fitzgerald. Colleen lived in Buenos Aires, Argentina for 5 years until 2018. It was during this time that Kukily was founded as a multidisciplinary arts organization built from Black feminist values and rooted in African Diaspora communities. Kukily’s four co-founders are Colleen Ndemeh Fitzgerald (US/Liberia), Jasmin Sánchez (Brazil), Julia Cohen Ribeiro (Argentina/Brazil) and Lina Lasso (Argentina/Colombia), and their collaborative projects take place globally. Since 2019 Colleen has returned to CT where she continues her work as a performing artist, cultural worker, and activist.
This project will be presented for the first time in Hartford, CT and in the USA in partnership with Kukily, Jasmin Agosto of SageSeeker Productions, Kamora Herrington of Kamora’s Cultural Corner, and Irene Blean of the Hartford Public Library Barbour Branch. These partnerships have been essential to make this event happen. There are 11 performer-collaborators, all Black women from the Hartford area. The event has received support from the Connecticut Office of the Arts, which also receives funding from the National Endowment for the Arts, a federal agency; as well as the Greater Hartford Arts Council. The Connecticut Historical Society is a fiscal sponsor of the event.
For Negra, negra, negra soy (which translates to “Black, Black, I am a Black woman”), Kukily invites collaborators from the community who identify as women or diverse genders, as well as Black, African descent, or African, to participate in a live performance. These community members go through a collaborate creative process together that is meant to strengthen connections, better understand each others’ lived experiences, and engage in art making. The project sparks an important discussion for people of the African Diaspora: that Blackness is very diverse. We are not a monolith. And part of the creative process is to highlight that amongst the collaborators, as well as our audience. Kukily emphasizes choosing performer-collaborators of different ages, nationalities, ethnic backgrounds, skin tones, languages, hair textures, professions, religions. This is a catalyst for essential conversations around who we are and how we create networks of solidarity within our communities.
The event takes place on August 20th beginning at 4pm, at “Kamora’s Cultural Corner” 75 Sterling St., Hartford, CT. Entrance is “pay what you can”, suggested $5-$20 donation. Beginning at 4pm is the Black Art Heals Bazaar, a weakly event of the KCC that features local Black artists, artisans and small businesses. The performance will begin at 5pm. There will be food and drink for sale at the event. There is limited free street parking and paid parking at nearby lots.
There is a dress rehearsal on August 10th from 6-8pm, which is open for press with prior notice (please contact Colleen (860) 392-9135). A performance rain date is scheduled for August 27th in case of inclement weather.
QUOTE about the process from Colleen:
“The creative process of “Negra, negra, negra soy” creates space for participants to get to know each other, for the audience to get to know them, and for bridges to be constructed between individuals and communities.
I also think this project is very important now because people of African descent have been disproportionately affected by the ongoing pandemic. Creating art together is healing, especially art that uplifts the voices of Black women and folks of diverse gender expressions.”
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BIOS
Colleen Ndemeh is a multidisciplinary performance artist, activist and cultural worker of Kpelle (Liberian) and Euro-American descent. Her work is movement-based and centers women of the African diaspora, as well as her feminist, antiracist and anticolonial politics. She is well versed in Afro-diasporic, West African and Contemporary dance techniques. She received her BA in Dance and Anthropology from Bates College. As an independent artist she has performed in the US, Argentina, Paraguay, and Mexico. She has received numerous grants and awards including the New England Foundation of the Arts “New Work New England” grant to support new performance work From 2014-2018 she lived in Buenos Aires, Argentina where she engaged in her artistic and political practice, in community with Afro Latin American communities. There she co-founded Kukily, an afrofeminist arts collective. The 4 collective members work across borders and cultures in performance art, audiovisuals, and community-centered practice.
www.colleenndemeh.com | @colleen_ndemeh | www.facebook.com/colleenndemeh
KUKILY is a transnational afrofeminist arts collective that creates interdisciplinary work in performance, installation, audiovisual and community-based projects. Founded in 2016 by its four members: Julia Cohen Ribeiro, Lina Lasso, Jasmin Sánchez and Colleen Ndemeh Fitzgerald who are currently based in Buenos Aires, Argentina; Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, and Connecticut, USA. Kukily’s organizing work in Argentina includes collaborations with the Ministry of Culture; the Ministry of Women, Gender and Diversity; among other national and city government entities. Our work has been presented in government and independent spaces throughout Argentina, as well as virtually across the globe. We recently hosted virtual community-building workshops for people of the African Diaspora through the US-based organizations Freeskewl (a virtual platform for movement classes, performances, discussions, and community based in New England) and the OAS (Organization of American States based in Washington DC. Our name “Kukily” is a Kpelle word meaning “all of us together, every single one of us”, and reflects our experience drifting between individual and collective identity; an Africanist understanding of our expansive existence beyond the “me”. Kukily’s work is horizontal and represents the voice of each of its members.
