4:00 - 5:15
Created by artist and astrophysicist, Nia Imara, a celebration of the cosmos, black culture, and the power of art to bring people together. With a live, debut performance featuring Tarika Lewis (violin), Destiny Muhammad (harp) and Cava Menzies (piano).
In We Love the Light, Nia Imara leads the audience on a dynamic, lyrical, light-filled exploration of the universe. Through art and music, she tells a story of how we live on a small, rocky planet orbiting an ordinary star, which is just one of billions of stars flying around in the Milky Way — which, in turn, is one of countless galaxies in the universe. Filled with stunning images and music, We Love the Light is a story of how we are all connected by light.
Nia Imara is a multidisciplinary artist who uses her work to express her love of color, people, and their stories. Dr. Imara is also a professor of astrophysics who researches the mysteries of star birth in galaxies throughout the universe. She’s the founder of Onaketa, a nonprofit that provides free educational resources for black and brown youth.
Tarika Lewis is a celebrated musician, visual artist, genealogist, and respected community activist. Founder of MyStringsOfSoul violin ensemble and co-director of My Spirit Orchestra, Ms. Lewis toured for two decades with John Handy With Class and was the first woman to join the Black Panther Party.
Destiny Muhammad is a distinguished recording/performing artist, band leader, composer, and producer. Her genre — Celtic to Coltrane — is cool and eclectic, with a feel of jazz and storytelling to round out the sonic experience.
Cava Menzies is a multidisciplinary musician, visual artist, and educator. A founding music faculty member at the Oakland School for the Arts, her work has been featured as a guest faculty member for Berkeley College of Music’s intensives in LA and Puerto Rico, and as a quarterfinalist for the 2018 Grammy Music of Educator Awards. Cava is the founder of the brand, COLORQUEEN, and the director of Oakland-based CO-LLAB CHOIR.
Connect:
Nia Imara - Website | Nia Imara - Twitter
This program is part of the 2023 The Black Woman is God (TBWIG) exhibit. For 10-years, the TBWIG exhibition has challenged patriarchal constructions of Black femininity with a visual arts exhibition, interpretive panel discussions, artists’ talks, and contextualizing performances that investigate how black women artists produce art, dance, sculpture, and ritual as the highest form of knowledge. The exhibition theme for 2023 is MOTHERHOOD and what it means to Black women. Artists will investigate the social conditions that profoundly impact Black mothers and Black mother-figures who work towards a collective resistance against a systemically violent society.