UxI 2015
Spirit of the Streets
June 6 & 7, 2015
SOMArts Cultural Center
934 Brannan St. San Francisco, CA 94103
URBAN x INDIGENOUS: Spirits of the Streets* was a two-day community arts event that involved and encouraged an inter-generational, multidisciplinary artistic approach to acknowledging the indigenous spirit in the urban jungle of our present day.
Day One consisted of a storytelling workshop exploring the importance of movement, song, and spoken word in the (re)telling of our traditions passed down and a community dialogue inquiring the presence of the ‘indigenous self’ in modern day art-making, creative practice, and public performance.
Aimee Suzara | Alleluia Panis | Kumu Kau`i Peralto | Tracey Panek
Day Two culminated in an arts exhibition and performance activation that speaks to the intersection of urban and indigenous practices in our contemporary society.
Aleks Figueroa | Alfie Numeric | Alton Guevarra | Baltazar Dasalla | Cece Carpio | Dani Galvez | Hiyasmin Saturay | Javier Stell-Fresquez | Jean Teodoro | Joanna Padua | Jonathan Mercado | Joshua Icban | Julz Ignacio | Kate Masancay | Laga CA Weaving Circle | Lordy Rodriguez | Manila Ryce | Mark Canto | Melfred Ignacio | Mik Gaspay | Monica Magtoto | Noelle Guarin | Rani Marcos | Samantha Curl | Si Dako’ta Camacho | SPULU | and more
Centered on the API-experience but in alliance with all indigenous peoples, URBAN x INDIGENOUS: Spirits of the Streets aimed to unite cultural and urban-based artists to strengthen the network of urban-indigenous creatives, scholars, and community organizers towards collective action through arts as activism. #UxI #SoS #USAAF2015 #SparkingLight
Presented by Asian Pacific Islander Cultural Center as part of the 18th Annual United States of Asian America Festival: Sparking Light
“In the migration from the green lands and blue waters to the concrete habitat, our indigenous selves have been buried and tucked away in the wake of towering skylines. Our hxstories and narratives have been archived for mere exhibition, and not engagement. Instead, these lives that were once lived manifest in faint spirits within us that have been lulled by the everyday, urban lifestyles. Our mission, as people from rich indigenous backgrounds, is to reinvigorate these spirits and reawaken them from the slumber induced by colonization, Westernization, & socio-political conditions.”
— Baltazar Dasala, UxI Artist & Assistant Curator
“This event invites the up-and-coming generation of urban movers, activist-scholars, and indigenous artists to engage in a space of ritual, remembering, and (re)telling that industry-driven creative spaces neither foster nor encourage. By sharing space and cultivating ideas with artists of different strengths, varying ancestral backgrounds, and shifting perspectives – URBAN x INDIGENOUS will connect our generation back to those who paved the way and more centrally those who came long before colonizers came to infiltrate our bloodlines.”
— Sammay Dizon, UxI Artist & Producer
