We, at The Neighbors, thank you for your eyes, ears, and hearts for this New Years Event revolving around the theme resilience/resistance entitled Still We Rise after Maya Angelou. The embodiment of truth is what inspires us in resilience and resistance within our communities and amongst our societies. In a time of political turmoil, we turn toward each other and humbly ask for support. We are here to give strength and gusto to artists; to see their work and share it with a global community. Realizing that our lives are small in the grand scheme of things, but that doesn’t mean we don’t have stories. Tonight, we will celebrate the collective through honoring the individual. Taking place on December 29th at 7:30PM EST, this Zoom event will screen the work of 5 artists: Lizzie Wee (Singapore, SG), natyna bean (Philadelphia, US), Fritz Barbee of Cazimi Collective (Sandbridge, US), DJ Malinowski (New York City, US), and Luin Joy (Durham, US). This event will start with an introductory interview between David Nazario and Sophia Stopper. Sit back and relax! Get ready for some earth shaking talent to grace your screens!
Donate to our crowdfunding campaign here!
Donate to our crowdfunding campaign here!
David Nazario is a spirit, human, brother, sun, friend and lover. He is also a Queer Afro-Puerto Rican writer, speaker, educator, and spoken word artist from Reading, Pennsylvania, currently residing in Queens, New York. These identifiers inform his lived experience, thus informing his work, service, and perspective. This unique perspective is one the cornerstones to David’s learning, unlearning, interpretation and expression of the world around him. David is a Nuyorican Poetry Slam winner and an internationally published writer who released his first book, Make Love Your Religion: How To Put Love First & Succeed at Doing What You Love (SDJ Press) in 2018. His work has been read and featured in publications like Reading Eagle Newspaper, El Palo Magazine, Cititour.com, Swaay.com and Blk Voices Magazine. David has spoken at institutions like: Penn State University, Shippensburg University, Kutztown University, Olivet Boys & Girls Club, ASSETS, Bronx Eagle Academy, and GoggleWorks Center for the Arts. David’s debut book of poetry, Poems Written In The Bathtub While Cumming Out (SDJ Press) was released in 2023.
Lizzie Wee (she/her) is a Singaporean multidisciplinary artist, curator, designer, illustrator, art director and video editor. She has lived in many cities including Kuala Lumpur, Hong Kong, Berlin, Boston, New York, and Singapore. She received her BFA from New York University and her MA Fine Arts from the Goldsmiths programme at LASALLE College of the Arts. Her present practice-based research investigates notions of identity and belonging; through an examination of archetypal female roles found in Southeast Asian pop culture and visual media, superstitions and cultural traditions from her lived experiences, and the complicated world of online dating relationships. Her works are expressed through video, performance, writing for performance, fabric sculpture, and multimedia installation. Her areas of interest extend beyond the confines of just looking for belonging and examining her own identity, and looks closely at human relationships through the lens of heritage, superstitions, and romance. Her works have touched on ethnographic and phenomenological methodology but utilize language and humour as tools to convey the depths of her research in a more accessible way. She has exhibited her work in various international galleries, showcases, symposiums, art fairs, online, in Singapore, Malaysia, Taiwan, Shenzhen, Szczecin, New York, Johannesburg, Pretoria, and Shanghai. Apart from her artistic practice, Wee has worked with Sotheby's Hong Kong; Kitchen Hoarder, a woman-run production team focused on lifestyle and food culture; Pure Art Lab, a local children’s art school, and co-founded Late Studio, a local art studio offering classes as well as a project space for experimental art showcases.
IG: @lizzieweee
Vimeo: www.vimeo.com/lizziewee
Website: www.lizziewee.com
natyna bean (any pronouns) is a Philly-bred and based writer, director, and producer for stage, screen, and sound. natyna’s storytelling centers Black women and femmes in relentless pursuit of sanity & sovereignty in humorously heartbreaking worlds. These stories have been produced, published, and/or developed by For Harriet, Rattlestick Playwrights Theatre, The Fire This Time Festival, the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, SPACE on Ryder Farm, and more. natyna’s production work ranges from nationally syndicated news programming to educational tarot through a Black queer lens. natyna has a dual BFA in Dramatic Writing and Africana Studies from NYU; and an MFA in Playwriting from the New School. Learn more at natynabean.com.
Hey y’all! I’m Fritz Barbee (any pronouns)—a meditation and embodiment practitioner, artist, farmer, podcaster, and Millie the cat’s companion. My work draws on a background in sculpture, dance, and farming, weaving creativity, land connection, and community care into everything I do.
I grew up in rural Pennsylvania on the traditional lands of the Susquehannock people and later moved to Richmond, Virginia, on the traditional lands of the Powhatan and Chickahominy peoples, to study Sculpture, Art History, and Dance at VCUarts. After working in higher ed and feeling its misalignment with my values, I committed to farming, deepening my connection to the land through work with medicinal herbs, flowers, vegetables, and livestock.
In 2023 I co-founded Cazimi Collective, an arts and farm retreat center geared towards guiding folks back to themselves through art, rest and land connection. At Cazimi, I co-create (with my teammate hobbes baya) tailored retreats that center curiosity, creativity, land connection and embodiment. I blend my arts background with problem-solving skills to manage logistics, design experiences, and nurture Cazimi’s vision. As a land steward, I honor my European ancestral ties while working toward lineage healing and regeneration through slow, intentional practices.
This video piece is a compilation of footage gathered at one of our trial retreats about a year ago. Along with dancing, singing and eating delicious homemade grub, we connected to our inner landscapes through a full moon ritual, self-massage workshop and a polar plunge into the Atlantic. This piece reminds me that I can always ~time travel~ back to these precious moments, in times when I'm having difficulties accessing my otherwise potent life force.
I know I’m living my life’s purpose when I create spaces that inspire authenticity and connection.
Here is our website: www.cazimicollective.com
and IG: https://www.instagram.com/cazimicollective/
DJ Malinowski (they/them) finds ways to make art amidst a 9-5 job. Attends free jazz and glitchy electronic music concerts to self-program subconscious associations between images and concepts. Has been researching ways of socializing for the past several years. Often uses automatic writing, intuitive intelligence, spoken word improvisation, and new media. Is currently fascinated with surreality, and neural connections between the storytelling in manga and music.
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This work is a collage of poetry, field recordings, and sonic sketches on the topic of trans embodiment and multiplicity. After 5 years of planning and preparation, I embarked on my first stage (1/3) of bottom surgery this October with the doctor of my dreams. Recovery has been an intense process of body-mind integration, awe, and pain endurance, on top of this incredibly scary time for trans people everywhere. Three weeks post-op was the first time I talked with someone else (in-person) who shared my surgery experience. Since then, I have been the first in-person exposure for many other trans people desiring surgery and struggling with the loneliness of the process. It is powerfully healing to speak truthfully about my relationship to gender-actualization and my hope is that this work generates contagious freedom and actualization for others as well - thank you for witnessing and listening.
Luin Joy (he/him) (b. Portland, ME 1993) is an artist and musician interested in worldbuilding, spiritual psychology, and divine trans imagination/embodiment. He aims to make work that centers trans/queer experience, distills complex systems, connects disparate threads, dismantles cis-het limiting beliefs, and generates pathways for healing through sonic sculpture, performance, writing, painting, installations, workshops, spiritual practices, and other forms.
Luin holds a Master of Fine Arts with a concentration in Sculpture and Performance (School of The Art Institute of Chicago, 2020) and a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Painting and Art History (Savannah College of Art and Design, 2015). He is currently based in Durham, North Carolina.
website: luinjoy.com
instagram: @loo_en
Hey y’all! I’m Fritz Barbee (any pronouns)—a meditation and embodiment practitioner, artist, farmer, podcaster, and Millie the cat’s companion. My work draws on a background in sculpture, dance, and farming, weaving creativity, land connection, and community care into everything I do.
I grew up in rural Pennsylvania on the traditional lands of the Susquehannock people and later moved to Richmond, Virginia, on the traditional lands of the Powhatan and Chickahominy peoples, to study Sculpture, Art History, and Dance at VCUarts. After working in higher ed and feeling its misalignment with my values, I committed to farming, deepening my connection to the land through work with medicinal herbs, flowers, vegetables, and livestock.
In 2023 I co-founded Cazimi Collective, an arts and farm retreat center geared towards guiding folks back to themselves through art, rest and land connection. At Cazimi, I co-create (with my teammate hobbes baya) tailored retreats that center curiosity, creativity, land connection and embodiment. I blend my arts background with problem-solving skills to manage logistics, design experiences, and nurture Cazimi’s vision. As a land steward, I honor my European ancestral ties while working toward lineage healing and regeneration through slow, intentional practices.
This video piece is a compilation of footage gathered at one of our trial retreats about a year ago. Along with dancing, singing and eating delicious homemade grub, we connected to our inner landscapes through a full moon ritual, self-massage workshop and a polar plunge into the Atlantic. This piece reminds me that I can always ~time travel~ back to these precious moments, in times when I'm having difficulties accessing my otherwise potent life force.
I know I’m living my life’s purpose when I create spaces that inspire authenticity and connection.
Here is our website: www.cazimicollective.com
and IG: https://www.instagram.com/cazimicollective/
DJ Malinowski (they/them) finds ways to make art amidst a 9-5 job. Attends free jazz and glitchy electronic music concerts to self-program subconscious associations between images and concepts. Has been researching ways of socializing for the past several years. Often uses automatic writing, intuitive intelligence, spoken word improvisation, and new media. Is currently fascinated with surreality, and neural connections between the storytelling in manga and music.
This work is a collage of poetry, field recordings, and sonic sketches on the topic of trans embodiment and multiplicity. After 5 years of planning and preparation, I embarked on my first stage (1/3) of bottom surgery this October with the doctor of my dreams. Recovery has been an intense process of body-mind integration, awe, and pain endurance, on top of this incredibly scary time for trans people everywhere. Three weeks post-op was the first time I talked with someone else (in-person) who shared my surgery experience. Since then, I have been the first in-person exposure for many other trans people desiring surgery and struggling with the loneliness of the process. It is powerfully healing to speak truthfully about my relationship to gender-actualization and my hope is that this work generates contagious freedom and actualization for others as well - thank you for witnessing and listening.
Luin Joy (he/him) (b. Portland, ME 1993) is an artist and musician interested in worldbuilding, spiritual psychology, and divine trans imagination/embodiment. He aims to make work that centers trans/queer experience, distills complex systems, connects disparate threads, dismantles cis-het limiting beliefs, and generates pathways for healing through sonic sculpture, performance, writing, painting, installations, workshops, spiritual practices, and other forms.
Luin holds a Master of Fine Arts with a concentration in Sculpture and Performance (School of The Art Institute of Chicago, 2020) and a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Painting and Art History (Savannah College of Art and Design, 2015). He is currently based in Durham, North Carolina.
website: luinjoy.com
instagram: @loo_en