Shifting Culture Through Art: Our Partnership with the Center for Cultural Power

As part of this long-term culture change work to shift the cultural conversation and the dominant narratives about sexual violence and its impact on Black communities, We, As Ourselves has partnered with the Center for Cultural Power, an artist-led organization, to work with Black women and femme survivors and artists. These artists are shaping new narratives—ones that upend historical and cultural myths that harm and silence Black survivors.

Please click on the artists’ names below to learn more about them and to view their narrative-driven works:

• LeahAnn Mitchell, an independent music producer, sound engineer, and artist;
• Mercy Thokozane Minah, a queer, non-binary multi-disciplinary artist
• Regina Evans, a modern day abolitionist in the fight against child sex trafficking, a social justice playwright, actor, and poet
• LySaundra Campbell, a storyteller, writer, and editor, and the founder of Social Soundtrack LLC
• Kaila Cherry, a filmmaker and writer

Their pieces focus on the following core themes:

• By Us, For Us: We must support survivors in sharing their own stories, on their own terms.
• Ancestral Connections: Our ancestors paved the way for us today and we move continuously to build on top of their contributions.
• Beyond the Binary: We must uplift the experiences of Black Trans women, nonbinary people, femmes, and girls as integral parts of our community of Black survivors.
• Expansive Justice: We acknowledge the need to move towards a more expansive understanding of justice, beyond the punitive and systemically oppressive nature of the carceral state, rooted instead in healing.
• Black Joy: We acknowledge the need to move past the overrepresentation of pain and trauma, towards centering stories of Black joy and sanctuary.

Learn more about the Center for Cultural Power’s cultural strategy work here.

Join We, As Ourselves and the Center for Cultural Power for a discussion between artists on their pieces and their relation to Black survivorhood.