For this Artists at Work, ISCP artist-in-residence Akeema-Zane will be joined by writer, designer and curator Ladi’Sasha Jones. Akeema-Zane will present her recent work that draws from her archival research of Trinidad and its Carnival traditions and speak with Jones about her family history of immigration to Harlem, their shared and divergent working histories and visions for diasporic convergences. They will also discuss Jones’ exploration of Black Interior Art, reflecting on the emotional, psychological, and spiritual spaces of Black life. A Q&A with the audience will follow.

Akeema-Zane is a Harlem-born artist and researcher working in literature, film, performance and sound. With collaborator Rena Anakwe, the artist has developed works that combine her literary, film, performance and sound practices in Our Mourning Due: A Funeral Sermon (2022) commissioned by Savannah College of Art and Design (SCAD) Museum of Art’s Walter and Linda Evans Center for African American Studies, Georgia, and Sonic Escape Routes: Shall We Fly? Or, Shall We Resist? (2020) commissioned by Weeksville Heritage Center, Brooklyn. Her featured role in the short film When Rain Clouds Gather by Christian Nyampeta debuted at the 2024 Venice Biennale. She is currently a film educator at Maysles Documentary Center, New York and serves as board chair of The School of Making Thinking as well as on the board of directors of Cucalorus Film Festival, North Carolina.

Ladi’Sasha Jones (she, her) is a writer, designer and curator from Harlem, New York. Her research-based practice explores Black spatial histories through text, sculpture and public engagement. She has written for Aperture, Avery Review, Arts.Black, e-flux Criticism, Gagosian Quarterly, Houston Center for Photography, and The Art Momentum. Her project Black Interior Space / Spatial Thought was commissioned by The Shed, New York as a part of the Open Call 2021 and was the recipient of a 2021 Research and Development award from the Graham Foundation for Advanced Studies in the Fine Arts. As an arts administrator, Jones held appointments at The Laundromat Project, New York; Norton Museum of Art, Florida; New Museum’s IdeasCity platform, New York; and the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, New York Public Library. She is currently pursuing a Ph.D. in the History and Theory of Architecture at Princeton University, and holds a M.A. in Arts Politics from New York University and B.A. in African American Studies from Temple University.

This program is supported by Vision Fund; Hartfield Foundation; James Rosenquist Foundation; Joe Sultan; Lèna Saltos; Milton and Sally Avery Arts Foundation; New York City Department of Cultural Affairs, in partnership with the City Council; Brooklyn Borough President Antonio Reynoso; New York City Council District 34; New York State Council on the Arts with the support of Governor Kathy Hochul and the New York State Legislature; Dr. Samar Maziad; Sarah Jones; van Beuren Charitable Foundation; William Talbott Hillman Foundation; and Woodman Family Foundation.
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This in-person event will be live streamed through Instagram: @iscp_nyc

Accessibility information: Please note that the entrance to ISCP has seven steps and a ramp, which is ADA compliant. There are seven artist studios and one exhibition space which can be accessed on the first floor of ISCP. There is an accessible bathroom on the first floor at the end of the hallway, up one step, where the artist studios are located. A temporary ramp can be installed to cover the step. To access the second floor, there is a staircase with a grab bar installed on the right side with 22 steps. The second floor has 22 artist and curator studios, one exhibition space, and a lounge where remarks by our speakers will take place. To access the third floor there is a staircase with a grab bar installed on the right side with 24 steps. The third floor has five artist and curator studios. ISCP can access a freight elevator to bring visitors between the first and second floors on request.

ISCP can offer two reserved parking spaces on request for people with disabilities. Please email programs@iscp-nyc.org to request a parking space and/or freight elevator usage.