Artist Residencies 2016

Roopa works at the intersection of art, healing and social justice.  She is a visual artist, certified pre-natal yoga instructor, doula and a new mom.  She is also a licensed attorney and PhD student in Justice and Social Inquiry PhD at the School of Social Transformation (ASU).  Roopa will be hosting the following workshops during July 2016: Pre-Carnival Yoga Sessions: For Focus, Freedom, Flexibility and Healing Through Parenthood. 

Her research areas include critical race theory and racial mobilities in law, hip-hop, and the contemplative practices.  She holds a B.A. in Politics, Philosophy and Economics, with a certificate in South Asian Studies, from the University of Pittsburgh, a JD from Boalt School of Law, and an MA in Cinema Studies from NYU.  In 2003, Roopa launched SAAPYA (South Asian American Perspectives on Yoga in America) via an ongoing series of groundbreaking panels and arts residencies elevating the voices of South Asian diasporic artists, activists, and academics talking yoga, race, cosmopolitanisms and cultural wars.  Find out more

Hailing from the concrete jungle an ocean away in the overly gentrified, Bed-Stuy, Brooklyn, Akiera is a Grenadian born, mango-loving, queer woman.  She will be hosting Dreaming Sexuality of Grenadian Women & Girls, a free workshop series focused on using creative writing as a tool for exploring Grenadian women’s sexuality. 

As a 2015-2016 recipient of the Gallatin Global Fellowship in Human Rights, Akiera has been selected by her institution, New York University’s (NYU) Gallatin School of Individualized Study to take part in documenting the dreams, desires, and experiences of women loving women in Grenada.  Her research delves into the realms of afro-futurism, magical realism and speculative fiction, Akiera intends for participants of her workshop series in Grenada to bask in the sci-fi and Black feminism vibes that are the works of writers, like Octavia Butler, Nalo Hopkinson, Nnedi Okorafor and many others. 

Feel free to poke and prod her with questions about creative writing stuff, survival as a queer twenty-something year old, love, sex and any other random ‘destroy white supremacy’ tidbits.  Find out more