BAMBOULA JOURNEYS
Retrospective Indigenous Caribbean Afrakan Arts
Curated by:
QM Dr. ChenziRa Davis Kahina
July 6 - August 17, 2024
Bamboula Journeys: Retrospective Indigenous Caribbean Afrakan Arts (RICAA) invites you on a creative immersive journey into the dynamic realm of contemporary and futurist art collections, meticulously curated by QM Dr. ChenziRa Davis Kahina. Featuring paintings, photographs, sculptures, textiles, and other mixed media artwork from the Caribbean, Central and South Americas, Afraka and beyond, Bamboula Journeys pays homage to the resilience and ingenuity of Caribbean and Afrakan artists whose visionary works transcend temporal and geographical boundaries creating opportunities for inspiring intergenerational and transcultural creative arts and technology.
The Bamboula Journeys exhibition serves as a vibrant celebration and observance of the intersection between Indigenous Caribbean and Afrakan artistic expressions, highlighting the kaleidoscope of cultural richness and creative arts diversity. Bamboula is an Afrakan-rooted cultural heritage and spiritual tradition that interweaves the tapestries of the arts, communication, precise sciences, sacred spirituality and beyond through creative arts of dance, music, theatre, and more. Bamboula as a performative art remains associated with dance forms and musical rhythms that represent methods for communication for uprisings, celebrations, sensual expressions, and social justice actions amongst free and formerly enslaved Afrakans throughout the Caribbean Americas.
Immerse yourself in the captivating energy of Bamboula Journeys where each artwork tells a story of ancestral resiliency in cultural heritage and artistic innovation in contemporary times. Journey with us through the enchanted waters of creativity, liberation, and exploration, and rediscover the transformative power of a cornucopia of visual, performative, and digital art sharing heritage narratives of cultural, healing, arts, technology, and spirituality (CHATS).
Join us as we embark on a transcendent voyage through time and space, honoring legacies of the past, embracing the vitality of the present, and envisioning the limitless future possibilities of artistic liberation through Bamboula Journeys.
RELATED PROGRAMMING:
Opening Reception
July 6, 4-8 pm
Curator Talk during the reception 5:30 pm
Bamboula Dance and drumming 6 pm
HONORING SACRED WATERS;
Gathering African Wisdom, Creativity and Power Fete Symposium
Public Event:
Creative Performances & Arts Exhibition
Friday, August 9.2024 at CMCArts
8pm to 9:30pm; Free Event
Blended with the Bamboula Journeys: Retrospective Indigenous Caribbean Afrakan Arts (RICAA) Art Exhibition hosted by CMCA’s 2024 Expressions of Freedom Series a special digital art exhibition and creative performances featured in the Honoring Sacred Waters Fete 2024 will be celebrated in creative performances and arts exhibition commemorating cultural heritage arts, wisdom and spirituality.
Creative artists exhibiting and performing are scheduled to include: Iya Amma McKen | Baba Philbert Armenteros and Bata Ensemble | Okomfo Nana Afia Fofie | Silvana Magda | Dr. Chipo Baker Afamefuma | Silvana Magda | Jesús Cepeda Brenes | José Cepeda Martínez | Diogenes Ballester | Dr. Babatunde Lawal | Celso González | QMDr. ChenziRa Davis Kahina |Ase Adama Delphine Fawundu and More… Dr. Marta Moreno Vega, Creative Justice Initiative President will share remarks along with St. Croix community supporting partners!
Concise Biography of QM Dr. ChenziRa Davis Kahina
July 2024
Griot | Educator | Cultural Creative Artivist | Communication Specialist | Priestess |
Holistic Developer | Researcher I Bibliophile | Author | Heritage Curator
"Bamboula represents more than a dance step style for performance and public entertainment. It represents a socio-cultural, socio-political and psycho-spiritual engagement that fuses body, mind, spirit and consciousness with sacred traditions, inspirational vision and freedom from physical, mental and spiritual bondage on a multiplicity of dimensions." (Davis Kahina: 2009)
ChenziRa Davis Kahina respectfully known as “Dr. Chen” is a co-founding director of Per Ankh (House of Life)©, and creatrix of ANUPerAnkh© instituting Culture, Healing, Arts, Technology and Spirituality for Life, Inspiration, Freedom, and Education (CHATS4LIFE©). Davis Kahina is the founding creatrix of AST Speaks©, NUWOMANRISING©, and Heritage Education Arts Legacy© (HEAL); inaugural founding director of the Virgin Islands Caribbean Cultural Center (VICCC); Assistant Professor in the College of Liberal Arts and Social Sciences (CLASS) at the University of the Virgin Islands (UVI); and producer/director/writer/narrator for Bamboula cultural heritage education creative arts. Davis Kahina’s academic credentials and intellectual research journeys include Rutgers University (NCAS), Pepperdine University (CA), University of California- San Diego, International University of Natural Sciences, and other global institutions. Davis Kahina's communitarian arts consultancy work collaborates with Contemporary African Diaspora Arts (CADA)- Miami/Global; Cisco the Artist™ Enterprises (US/DR); Creative Justice Initiative©, Corredor Afro©, Girl Child Art Foundation - African Female Artist Mentorship Program (Nigeria/Global); Afrakan Caribbean Cultural Artivists International, and other global entities. Davis Kahina has researched, choreographed, produced, taught, and published on the Bamboula and related cultural heritage arts for more than 35 years inclusive of Restoration of the St. Croix Bamboula; Three Queens: A VI Chautauqua; and Bamboula Sacred Cultural Traditions.
Davis Kahina has served as author, contributing editor, creative visionary, artist, and producer for multi-media and creative scholarly publications and productions inclusive of Hell Under God’s Orders: HUGO by Dr. Gloria I. Joseph, Audre Lorde and Hortense Rowe (1991); Cognitive Trends of Education for African Caribbean Americans (1998); Listening to Ancestral Wisdom: Sacred Conch Shell Inspirations (2004); Three Queens of the Virgin Islands (Chautauqua/Play: 2005); Heritage Education Arts Legacy-HEAL© (2013); The Wind Is Spirit: The Life, Love and Legacy of Audre Lorde by Dr. Gloria I. Joseph (2015); Caribbean Cultural Studies: 21st Century Paradigms for University-Level Heritage Education and Arts Legacy Programs (2014+); Queens of the Virgins (Film Screening at CARIFESTA 2017 Barbados); Fireburn: The Documentary (Produced by Angela Golden Bryan 2020); AfRaKan Women Lead (Arts and Sciences Research/Building Legacy Media: 2023); Miami Art Basel/CADA (2019-2023), and other collaborative partnerships and provisions of creative productions, authorship, media documentation, broadcasting, transcultural digital media, and creative arts publications annually. Davis Kahina works collaboratively with interdisciplinary, socioeconomic, Caribbean-centered organizations, and global alliances inclusive of: Caribbean Pan African Network (CPAN); CARICOM Caribbean Reparations Commission (CRC);African Union ECOSOCC (AU); Universal Negro Improvement Association African Communities League (UNIAACL RC2020); AfRaKan Queen Mother Warriors (AQMW)©; VI Architecture Center for Built Heritage and Crafts (VIAC); Toastmasters International™- St Croix Toastmasters; Sixth Region Diaspora Caucus©; Carib Academy©; Society of Virgin Islands Historians; Caribbean Studies Association (Past President); Society of Black Archaeologists™; St. Croix Foundation for Community Development-Non Profit Consortium; God’s House International ©; PULSE™; Temple of Inner Peace©; Seminole-Maroons Council; Maroon Indigenous Women's Network; Association of Caribbean Women Writers and Scholars (ACWWS); Virgin Islands Cultural Heritage Institute (VICHI); AIDO Network International™ (Ambassador at Large); Caribbean Museum Center for the Arts; VI Youth Advocacy Coalition (VIYAC); Music In Motion School of Higher Dance Education (MIMSHDE); and other global academic, sustainable, humanitarian, and civil society networks, institutions, and organizations.
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