In this weekly series, six Bay Area poets share new poems created in response to the current exhibitions. They will also describe the processes they employ in writing ekphrastic work. Come and listen, and experience art that moves your spirit to consider power and liberation.

‍

Please note, this program is now happening online. Register to access the Zoom link.

‍

‍January 6-February 17 feature individual performances.

These readings and discussions culminate in the MoAD Salon with an evening of performance by all the poets in this series on February 24th.

The exhibitions on view are Amoako Boafo: Soul of Black Folks and Billie Zangewa: Thread for a Web Begun.

Featured Poet

shah noor is a writer, visual artist, and scholar crafting narratives at the nexus of Black feminist thought, Queer diaspora studies, and liberatory pedagogies. shah's poetry has been featured in the LA Review of Books (2020), Umber (2019), and CUNJUH (2017) as well as performed at the Museum of the African Diaspora (2020), Berkeley Art Museum & Pacific Film Archive (2018), and the African American Arts & Culture Complex (2018), to name a few.

‍

shah has taught courses and led writing workshops at Stanford University (2020), Laney College (2019), and UC Berkeley (2018). They have served as a Writing Fellow at the California Institute of Integral Studies (2016 - 2017), a Teaching Fellow for the Peralta Community College System in Oakland (2018 - 2019), and a Pedagogy Fellow with the Center for Innovations in Teaching and Learning (2020 - 2021) at UC Santa Cruz.

‍

shah’s cultural work aims to (re)center marginalized voices in dialogues on alternative epistemologies and cultural reproduction through a multimedia study of popular culture and women's music in their home country, Sudan. In their leisure, shah enjoys talking to their plants, doing yoga, and finding the best mocha lattes in Oakland. You can follow shah on Instagram & Twitter: @shah__noor as well as Clubhouse: @shah_noor. SHAHNOORHUSSEIN.COM

‍

‍

This event is supported in part by Poets & Writers.

‍