Introducing Matta (Matthew) Zheng - IDA Fellow! Matt’s (Matthew) Zheng ’22 is a drag performance artist majoring in Anthropology and Political Science. Currently titled “She Jin-Ping”, Matta’s proposed project is a comparative study of the Communist Party of China and the American empire as a drag photo series and short film. Relying heavily on drag techniques from traditional Beijing Opera, as well as the political aesthetics of Mao’s Cultural Revolution, Matta will create a satirical persona which critics the gender and national identity of the political leader (ergo, “She Jin-Ping”). The artist’s aim is to “substantively add to and disrupt mythic discourses of East-West rivalry, xenophobia, and citizenship through parody and reorientation.” Swipe and check our story to feast your eyes on Matta’s breathtaking and luminescent artistry. And please show your support by following them @oblong_oriental and leaving your comments below! We are so excited about our IDA and CBPA fellows!💕🙏🏾 
Introducing Angel “Ace” Smith - IDA student co-chair! Angel “Ace” Smith ’21 is a multimedia artist, writer, poet and musician majoring in African and African American Studies. Ace seeks to create art that honors their ancestors as well as honors what kind of ancestor they would like to be. Ace creates from a lens of healing. Their art comes from a place where both emotions and spirituality reside. The artist notes: “taking really deep and lasting breaths has enhanced my ability to see much more of the physical realm than I ever have before. I am better able to bring into focus, various representations of Spirit. For me that’s what Spirit is: Spirit is all around us, Spirit is energy, a moving force we breathe into ourselves. Breath has allowed me to connect to Spirit. This is the root of my artistic practice”. What more can we say about them except Ace is Excellence!!! Follow them @eso_collective and @eso.ace to experience more of that talent and click on the link in bio for other ongoing projects! Much love Ace 🙏🏾💕! 
Introducing Luke Williams - CBPA Fellow! Luke Williams is a graduate student in the Modern Thought & Literature in the School of Humanities & Sciences. His research aims to examine sociopolitical possibilities through a corporeal framework. Grounded within dance studies, Luke seeks to explore the power contained in the body. He draws upon the rich traditions of Black Cultural Studies, Performance Studies, and African-American Literature. He states: “This year, I am developing my artistic philosophy around inquiry by attempting to find the crosshatches where my theoretical reading for oral examinations intersects my artist practice.” His current project is a continuation of the questions he explored last year in his original play, Against the Jagged Grain, which focused on his relationship with his father, mother and his own inherited patriarchal sensibilities. His powerful presence on the stage of REVIVAL was mesmerizing and his performance electrifying. Won’t you please give Luke some love in the comments beyond and follow him @elteewilliams!🙏🏾💕 
Introducing Jamie Seney - IDA Fellow! Jamie Seney ’21 is a senior majoring in Art Practice whose visual work includes drawing and painting. Jamie plans on using this fellowship to create a visual prayer book and altar as sites that hold the energies and uplift the experiences of people living in poverty. The artist plans to return to their family’s trailer, abandoned almost a decade ago, to begin this work— creating an altar in collaboration with the community as an invitation for folks to engage in healing ritual and reclamation. “My art is rooted in bittersweet tones, ones that sting a little but you can’t help but decide are very beautiful.” This year, alongside the IDA fellowship Jamie will be completing an honors thesis in Art and Art History. Jamie’s work has a meditative quality reflected in its meticulous details. Truly breathtaking! Please follow them @jamieseney, swipe and check our story for more of their work. 💕🙏🏾 
Introducing Faatimah Solomon - CBPA Fellow! Faatimah Solomon ’21 is a writer and poet majoring in African and African American Studies and Human Biology. She will create an arts archival document about Sudanese diasporic communities with a focus on the poetics and realities of revolution, exile, and family. This will be a kaleidoscopic collection of stories, sounds, and photographs, along with her own poems about exiled diasporic communities and experiences. On how she is undoing racism in her daily life, she states: “I do this by reminding myself and my family that while we are indigenous to other lands, we are arrivants and potentially settlers on Turtle Island who benefit from US settler-colonialism. I try to remind myself that undoing anti-Black and anti-Indigenous racism are active, life-long commitments, that are essential for global indigenous and Black solidarity and liberation.” Swipe to read Faatimah’s beautiful poem entitled “Origination” and check our story to view her collage of images. Please follow Faatimah @fxxtimxh. She is a true female griot of her community!💕🙏🏾 
Introducing Maya Salameh-IDA Student co-chair! Maya Salameh ’22 is an award-winning poet and a published author. She is a 2016 National Student Poet, the nation’s highest honor for youth poets, and has performed at venues including the Obama White House and Carnegie Hall. Syrian by way of San Diego, Maya is a psychology major whose work centers around the intersection of creativity and citizenship, articulating Arab-American culture, conflict and consciousness. She explores themes of desire, religion, diaspora, imperialism, intergenerational femininity and the hyphenated Arab body. Last year’s inaugural Artist in Residence at the Markaz Cultural Center, Maya is currently working on a book, habibi and her first full-length collection, blood work. She is also particularly interested in the uses of dance and traditional jewelry in maintaining legacies of grace. A brilliant mind, a beautiful spirit and powerful poet, Maya is a leading force of an artist! Swipe and click on the link in bio to read more of her poetry. Follow her @mayaslme and please show her some love in the comments below! 🙏🏾💕 
Introducing Linda Sol - CBPA Fellow! Linda Sol ’21 is a rapper and poet with an already impressive list of music tracks under her belt. An Urban Studies major, Linda’s music aims to find balance between art that pushes the boundaries of social justice and art for its own inherent beauty and the joy it brings. For her project, Linda will be creating an EP centered around Puerto Rican migration, serial displacement, cultural preservation, Chicago, and identity. Her EP project is continuously inspired by her own journey with identity and her senior research. The artist notes: “I’ve focused my senior project around this conversation to first explore the antiblackness that pervades my family and neighborhood, and second to unpack the different sociopolitical forces that shape people’s understanding of race, ethnicity, and nationality." To sample some of Linda’s poetry, click on this link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gkvhKlXjRa8 or click on the link in bio for her vast repertoire of music! You can also follow her @_lindasol. Let’s GO!💕🙏🏾 
Introducing Melissa Rivera - IDA Fellow! Melissa Rivera ‘21 is a painter and poet majoring in CSRE. They plan to create a prayer book which will include paintings that encompass their hopes for a future in which the abolition of oppressive systems is a reality. Recognizing the power of intention in manifesting a new radical reality, Melissa is envisioning a world where boundaries are redefined, all the possibilities of one’s gender are realized, and the prevailing importance of ritual and memory are incorporated into our everyday lived experience. The artist notes: ” The women of color in my life have taught me that I am capable of believing in things that are greater than me. Queer and trans Black, Indigenous, and folks of color have taught me that pushing and recreating boundaries is possible.” Swipe to read Melissa’s deeply moving poem entitled “ Call on those you need”! Melissa’s poetry are reflections derived from her process of healing intergenerational traumas informed by migration, religion and patriarchy. Please show this immensely talented artist some love in the comments below and follow her @riverameli! We are so excited to have you join the IDA family 💕🙏🏾! 
Introducing John Okhiulu - CBPA Fellow! John Okhiulu 21 is a poet, photographer and a musician majoring in African and African American studies and Human biology. Through various artistic mediums (moving images, words and music) and on multiple platforms (blog, website, YouTube and social media), John chronicles the present with an eye towards the future. His work will be to combine the power of poetry with the musical, magical spirit of conjure practice to create a music video that highlights the traditions and heritage of hip-hop, soul and afrofusion’s shared legacies. The artist notes: “As I committed to a course of study that interrogates race and gender as vehicles of harm and discrimination, I introduced the same commitment in my day to day walk and talk.” Swipe to read John’s evocative poem entitled “Calabash” written for his father. Check our story to preview his current project and click link in bio to check out his various works. Please show John some love in the comments, won’t you?! The multi-talented John!💕🙏🏾