Events Calendar

Afrofuturism is an invitation into the portals of Black possibilities within familiar and unfamiliar realms. Join us for a conversation moderated by Stanley Associate Writer & Collections/Exhibitions Associate Derek (DK) Nnuro on the expressions of those possibilities in literature and dance, and a work of Black abstract art from the collection. Q&A to follow.

Join us on Zoom: https://uiowa.zoom.us/j/95714165943

Nana Nkweti is a Cameroonian-American writer, Caine Prize finalist, and graduate of the Iowa Writers’ Workshop. Her award-winning work has garnered fellowships from MacDowell, Vermont Studio Center, Ucross, Byrdcliffe, Kimbilio, Hub City Writers, the Stadler Center for Poetry, the Wurlitzer Foundation, Virginia Center for the Creative Arts, and Clarion West Writers Workshop. Nana serves as Assistant Professor of English at the University of Alabama. She teaches creative writing courses that explore her eclectic literary interests: ranging from graphic novels to medical humanities on to exploring works by female authors in genres such as horror, afrofuturism, and mystery.

Nana’s writing has been published in journals and magazines such as Brittle Paper, New Orleans Review, and The Baffler, amongst others. Her short story collection, Walking on Cowrie Shells, is forthcoming from Graywolf on June 1, 2021.

André M. Zachery is a Brooklyn-based interdisciplinary artist of Haitian and African American descent, and is a scholar, researcher and technologist with a BFA from Ailey/Fordham University and MFA in Performance & Interactive Media Arts from CUNY/Brooklyn College. As the artistic director of Renegade Performance Group his practice, research and community engagement artistically focuses on merging of choreography, technology and Black cultural practices through multimedia work. André is a 2016 New York Foundation for the Arts Gregory Millard Fellow in Choreography and 2019 Jerome Hill Foundation Fellow in Choreography. 

André's works through RPG have been presented domestically and internationally, receiving support through several residencies, awards, and commissions. As a technologist he has collaborated with various artists through RPG, the design team of 3LD Art & Technology Center, and The Clever Agency. André has worked on major projects across artistic mediums as a choreographer, media designer and consultant 

Deborah Goffe is a dance maker, performer, educator, and performance curator who cultivates environments and experiences through choreographic, design and social processes.Since its founding in 2002, Scapegoat Garden (a Connecticut-based creative engine)has functioned as her primary vehicle for artistic and curatorial practice—a means to forge relationships between artists and communities, helping people see, create and contribute to a greater vision of ourselves, each other, and the places we call home. Deborah’s performance works have been presented in performance festivals and venues throughout the northeast United States, including: New England’s Center for the Arts at Wesleyan University, Wadsworth Atheneum, International Festival of Arts and Ideas in New Haven, Provincetown Dance Festival, Bates Dance Festival in Maine, Boston Center for the Arts; New York City’s New York Live Arts, Artists of Tomorrow Theatre Festival, and the 92nd Street Y. Her work has also been presented in Finland, Italy, and Cape Verde. Deborah is driven by an enduring commitment to support of vibrant local dance ecologies, and the role of curatorial practice in that process. Together these commitments inform her work and teaching at Hampshire College (Amherst, MA) where she serves as Associate Professor of Dance and Performance Curation.

This event is presented in partnership with The Center for Afrofuturist Studies

Photo credits:

Nana  Nkweti by Shea Sadulski | Out of Focus Photo Studio

André M. Zachery by Tara Lynn Pixely

Deborah Goffe by Jim Coleman

Photo collage by UI Stanley Museum