Mayasa Design House: In Color

I am always seeking ways to blend the art in my soul, blur the genres, and allow a cohesive expression to come from multiple places within. -Uzuri Asad, Mayasa Design House

Listen Hear will host paintings, jewelry and other items from Uzuri Asad of Mayasa Design House. Originally from Cleveland, Ohio, Uzuri Asad now lives and works in the Garfield Park neighborhood of Indianapolis as part of Big Car Collaborative’s Artist in Public Life Residency program. She’s a singer, dancer, choreographer, and jewelry-maker. Formally trained in West African dance and contemporary movement, her art is guided by lived experiences and her cultural upbringing. Her style is a unique blend of fluid, free flowing, yet intentional movements. For Asad, dance is a sacred means of individual expression that lives and breathes through her.

Music has always been a big part of her life. Beginning with an idea or a piece of music, her creative process is a daydream of ideas and music that become living and breathing pulsations within her. Deeply in tune and connected to each individual element, she creates jewelry by envisioning the people who would wear what she makes, the environment they might dwell in, and how those pieces may be incorporated into their lives naturally.

She recently worked as a choreographer and performer for “Village Voices: Notes from the Griot”, a collaborative production created by Joshua Thompson and directed by Megan Simonton. Within this work, she was part of an educational experience that brought creative expression from the stage to the classroom, creating dialogue to address the painful and ugly things that aren’t spoken.

Everything I do is based on lived experiences. A great deal of my work is centered around celebrating and creating space for healing Black women. I’m moved by the living artistry of my family’s existence, and by the people who I have come to love along my journey. I’ve been inspired to examine and express things happening in the world as of late, so I am exploring movement and adornment that reflects the emotional and spiritual effects of my community.

Asad believes, through movements of expression, that her work can create a meaningful reflection of the times that become reference points in the future of what has occurred. With her bold, unapologetic, and intrepid movements, she inspires people to find their voice and create a space to heal women. In this space, women don’t have to make themselves smaller or quieter. They embrace their identity and power to its fullest.

Facebook.com/ijomovement

Instagram: zuri_mayasa

This exhibition was made possible by the Arts Council of Indianapolis, The City of Indianapolis, The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts and The Allen Whitehill Clowes Charitable Foundation.