Decolonizing the Brown Body: Pop Up Performance and Discussion

The Blacker The Berry ...' "I grew up hearing that expression. And I know a lot of brown women in the United States have too," says Shá Cage, project curator. This powerful multidisciplinary performance and companion visual art exhibit at Intermedia Arts features performance and visual artwork by over 50 women of color including Thomasina Petrus, Carolyn Holbrook, Erendira Garcia, Tish Jones, Jayanthi Kyle, Lisa Brimmer, Hope Cervantes, Beverly Cottman, Keegan Xavi, Chrys Carroll, Dynasty Anderson, Charla Marie Bailey, Jada Daniels, Ivory Doublette, Mameneh George, Cherish Sonja Gibson, Carolyn Holbrook, Shavunda Horsley, Wisdom Mawusi, Adaobi Okolue, Gabrielle Grier, Ifrah Mansour, and more.

"The phrase 'The Blacker the Berry...' creates a cultural focal point for us to explore preexistent social meanings of the metaphor's negative and positive inferences, cultural images and associations. "When women begin to share places of connectivity, they break through isolation to discover healing, nurturing, networking, and critical sharing." That is The Blacker The Berry.

The Blacker The Berry's curatorial team includes; artist activist Shá Cage joined by Cristina Benz as co-curator of the visual art exhibit, and Mama Mosaic Theater's co-founder Signe Harriday who will be co-directing the performances. Zenzele Isoke of the University of Minnesota's Department of Gender, Women and Sexuality Studies, guides the socio-political components of the project while Rose Brewer joins the team in her role working with the African American and African Studies Department at the University of Minnesota.