Welcome to our fifth podcast for the year 2010. For the month of June 2010, we are celebrating our newest exhibition, Soul Revival: A Poetic and Visual Experience of Renewal. The exhibition is on view at Meroe Art Gallery in Baltimore, Maryland until August 1, 2010.

This exciting exhibition features emerging artists and poets based the DC/Baltimore Metropolitan area on the theme of “Soul Revival.” What do we mean by revival? We are speaking of revival of the soul, spirit, neighborhood, community, nation, and even the world. The result is a eclectic visual range of artistic expression, ranging from realism to abstract and everything in between! Selected works of from the artists work has been paired with a poet/ spoken word artist who developed a poem that expresses their view about the art. Their contributions are an integral part of the exhibition, resulting in an innovative creative representation from a variety of artists–literary and visual– of the meaning of Soul Revival. During this podcast, which is part one of a two part series on the exhibition, we talked to two participants of this exhibition Nijla Mu’min and Alan King.

Image: Nijla Mu’min

Nijla Baseema Mu’min is a writer, filmmaker, and photographer from the San Francisco Bay Area. She is a graduate of the University of California, Berkeley where she earned a Bachelor’s degree in Mass Communications in 2007. She attended Howard University’s MFA Film Program. In 2006, she founded Sweet Potato Pie Productions, a production company specializing in the creation of narrative films, documentaries, and photography that examine the most intimate details of the human condition. Her photography was featured at the Harvard Kennedy School’s “Beauty, Diversity, and Strength” Photo Exhibition. She was also selected as an interviewer for Spike Lee’s “Refresh the World” Symposium in January 2009. She is the recipient of the 2009 Paul Robeson Award for Best Feature Screenplay, and her writing is to be featured in the forthcoming Girlchild Press Anthology, “Woman’s Work: The Short Stories.”

Image: “Learners”, silver gelatin print, Nijla Mu’min

Nijla has written and directed numerous film and video projects. She is currently working on a documentary entitled “BACK UP! concrete diaries,” that explores how women deal with street harassment. Her most recent venture is the conception and development of a feature length screenplay, entitled Salaam.

Image: Alan King

Alan King’s poems have appeared in Alehouse, Audience, Boxcar Poetry Review, Indiana Review, MiPoesias and RATTLE, among others. A Cave Canem fellow and VONA Alum, he’s been nominated for both a Best of the Net selection and Pushcart Prize. When he’s not reporting or sending poems to journals, you can find Alan chasing the muse through Washington, D.C. — people watching with his boys and laughing at the crazy things strangers say to get close to one another.

Alan wrote The Cave in response to the mixed media collage, “Believe” by Sharon Burton as part of Soul Revival.

You can check out our conversation by clicking the podcast player to the right column of this blog or download the mp3.

The talented Ms. Nina “Lyrispect” Ball performs at the opening of Soul Revival, on May 1st. Our latest exhibition featuring art & poetry at Meroe Art Gallery in Baltimore is open through Aug. 1, 2010.

Soul Revival is co-sponsored by Authentic Contemporary Art and the Meroe Art Gallery.

Special thanks to Think Brown Ink for the video!

On Friday, Sharon Burton of Authentic Contemporary Art was interviewed by TV Host and News anchor/Reporter, Victoria Gaither, on ‘At Home w/Victoria’, on Blogtalk Radio. Listen to the interview with Victoria and Sharon and learn more about Soul Revival above.

Stephanie Renee, DC/Philadelphia


Nina “Lyrispect” Ball, Baltimore/Philadelphia

Cherrie Amour, Baltimore

Dehejia Maat, DC

Soul Revival: A Poetic and Visual Experience of Renewal
Meroe Art Gallery
West Baltimore Center for Urban Art
1623 West North Avenue
Baltimore, MD 21217

Co-Sponsored by Meroe Art Gallery and Authentic Contemporary Art

Exhibition Dates: May 1-August 1, 2010

Opening Reception:
Saturday, May 1, 2010, 6 pm – 9 pm
Featuring An Artist’s Talk and Spoken Word Performance by Nina “Lyricspect” Ball, Stephanie Renee, Dehejia Maat, Cherrie Amour, Alan King and Bonnie MacAllister

Artscape Gallery Open House
Saturday, July 17, 2010, 2 pm – 7 pm
Artist’s Talk and Spoken Word Performances (TBA). Music by DJ Fusion of Fusebox Radio

Both receptions are free and open to the public!

This exciting exhibition features emerging artists and poets based the DC/Baltimore Metropolitan area on the theme of “Soul Revival.” What do we mean by revival? We are speaking of revival of the soul, spirit, neighborhood, community, nation, and even the world. The result is a eclectic visual range of artistic expression, ranging from realism to abstract and everything in between!

Selected works of from the artists work has been paired with a poet/ spoken word artist who developed a poem that expresses their view about the art. Their contributions is an integral part of the exhibition, resulting in an innovative creative representation from a variety of artists–literary and visual– of the meaning of Soul Revival!

Visual Artists (Authentic Contemporary Art):

Jade Andwele
Prudence Bonds
Sharon Burton
Keisha Carroll
Marshetta Davis
Sherria Green
Darren Jackson
J’Nell Jordan
Nilja Mumin
Heather Schmaedeke
Marcel Taylor
James Terrell

Other Visual Artists (Meroe Art Gallery):

Darryl Bennett
Teresa Gray
LaShell Rivers

Poets and Spoken Word Artists:

Cherrie Amour
Nina “Lyricspect” Ball
Natasha Brown
Marguax Delotte-Bennett
Victoria Durham
Amy Jackson
Alan King
Dehejia Maat
Bonnie MacAllister
Stephanie Renee

In observance of World AIDS Day……Authentic Contemporary Art hosted a forum on Saturday, June 27, 2009 that focused on the role art plays in the prevention and treatment of HIV and AIDS. The forum was held at Artomatic in Washington, DC in recognition of National Day of HIV Testing. The video features members of The Saartjie Project, a performance art ensemble based in DC, sharing poetry on their personal experiences with facing the epidemic among their peers.

See how some of DC’s art community is raising awareness here.