In Search of Exquisite Medicines

UK
2024

What happens when our connection goes beyond identity, logic, and known paths? What happens when people of all backgrounds, ages, ethnicities, and genders come together to explore the reality, and imagine the future, of connection?

In Search of Exquisite Medicines is a devised theatre piece exploring life-giving access to connection: imagination, visceral senses, deep presence through improv.

Opened in April, 2024 at Etcetera Theatre, London. Recording available here.

Project whY aM I (YMI)

Worldwide
2016 – 2020

YMI was created to push the boundaries of “public space,” of what it means and what it can do. 4000 pre-addressed postcards with open-ended prompts were distributed at venues with public access and to pedestrians in cities across the world.

YMI imagines a world where public spaces, regardless of size, are used as an invitation for self-reflection and empathy. By confronting its receivers with an inward-looking “why am I“ question, each YMI postcard evoked a moment of choice, of what to do with this opportunity to pause and process. YMI was invited to exhibit in Ann Arbor and Ypsilanti, Michigan. Exhibiting public responses created a second layer for utilizing public spaces to foster empathetic connection on a collective level.

Image (left): YMI exhibit in Ypsilanti, MI

Prison Creative Arts Project

Michigan, US
2014 – 2020

Since 2014 I have been working as a curator, arts programming coordinator, and workshop facilitator with Prison Creative Arts Project, an organization at the University of Michigan. PCAP’s mission is to bring “brings those impacted by the justice system and the University of Michigan community into artistic collaboration for mutual learning and growth.”

The Annual Exhibition of Art by Michigan Prisoners (Annual Exhibition) is one of the largest exhibitions of artwork by incarcerated artists in the world. For each exhibition, PCAP curators travel across the state of Michigan to have conversations with artists and select work for the exhibition which is mounted in Ann Arbor each spring. The exhibition, featuring between 300 and 500 artists is viewed by around 5,000 people. Through PCAP, artists living behind bars show their work for the public to connect with in a humanizing way both intellectually and emotionally.

To strengthen accessibility and engagement of PCAP’s programming, I collaborated with U-M Residential College to co-produce a series of audio conversation, narrated by myself Janie Paul, co-founder of the Annual Exhibition, and formerly incarderated artists Martin Vargas and Bryan Picken. Staying true to PCAP’s mission, this project aimed to amplify voices of artists who were directly impacted by US criminal justice system.

In addition to designing program-specific educational experiences for classes and communities visiting the Annaul Exhibition, I collaborated with local hospitality, health, and religious communities to create public spaces for ongoing PCAP art exhibits and community gatherings. Co-sponsored by PCAP Detroit Street Filling Station, I curated 2 exhibits of art by formerly incarcerated artists Martin Vargas and Alan Compo. These initiaves expanded spaces in which the public can engage with the topic of criminal justice through art and dialogue, vehicles that are less prone to initiate debates and more oriented around mutual understanding.

The community outreach projects are in collaboration with Detroit Street Filling Station, 327 Braun Court, Om of Medicine, Literati Bookstore, Unitarian Universalist Church of Greater Lansing, Represent Justice, and Detroit Institute of Arts.