Art Form(s)
Connect
Minneapolis
Artist Statement
I love to build: stories, structures, movements. I write creative nonfiction, memoir, and mythobiography. (Inspired by Audre Lorde who used the term “biomythography” to classify her work ZAMI: A NEW SPELLING OF MY NAME, and Toni Morrison’s writing on her own process, “mythobiography” refers to teasing apart fact from truth in writing personal narrative to illuminate universal themes.) I believe personal narratives can be tools for change and that storytelling helps us to understand our world better. I see my work in lineage and conversation with others whose art has contributed to cultural revolution and decolonization. Writers such as Audre Lorde, Dorothy Allison, Irena Klepfisz, adrienne maree brown, and Leah Lakshmi Piepzna-Samarasinha whose creative works have helped to guidepost us in making systemic transformation around ability, class, white supremacy, and (de)colonization. As a Jewish antizionist I see writing as an integral part of creating a thriving diasporic Jewish culture and a way to lift up (the often silenced) support for Palestine liberation. I am also very engaged in the local Twin Cities writing and performing arts communities (as participant, audience member, and production worker), and am constantly inspired by the range of skill and depth of vulnerability that my community offers. I seek to match that range and depth, so that I may be in dialogue with it and contribute to the beautiful world that our change-making is building.
Work Samples
