Colleen Ndemeh Fitzgerald (1992) is a multidisciplinary performance artist, activist and cultural worker of Kpelle (Liberian) and Irish-American descent. She’s doing artistic and political work internationally on the topics of feminism, anticolonialism, and Blackness, working as both a solo performance artist and as part of the afrofeminist arts collective, Kukily. She has trained in Afro-diasporic, West African and Contemporary dance techniques.
Artist Statement
The magical worlds, experiences, and knowledge of the African diaspora are at the center of my work. I’m most interested in putting voice to our shared experiences, creating spaces for our healing, and facilitating our community-building. Afro-centric is a literal definition of the work. Afro-centric is a politic, it is a creative process, it is a theory, it is a faith.
I am making artistic rituals that critique the world we live in while they carve away towards a Black utopia of our collective creation. I believe there is a future in which Black, Indigenous, People of color are thriving, not just surviving. I try to manifest that future in my work.
I use multidisciplinary methods to create complex representations of a complex world. Body, voice, technology, text, food, and energy are some of my mediums. My performance work manifests as evening-length, durational, site-specific, and interactive pieces.
My work serves as a catalyst for change, holding a mirror to societies that are poisoned by white supremacy, patriarchy, capitalism and colonial nightmares, and simultaneously highlighting the richness of Black culture that is so often marginalized. I create art and share space with my communities to call us all to action. As my ancestor, Nina Simone, said “An artist’s duty, as far as I’m concerned, is to reflect the times”. I follow Ms. Simone’s lead and attempt to fulfill this duty.
*As I continue my journey of decolonizing mind, body, spirit, I see where my beliefs are not supported by standard language i.e. referring to where we are from as it relates to geographies, especially nation-states, and especially using the names of colonizers/settlers. So following the lead of indigenous activists of Abya Yala and Turtle Island, I try to detach from these labels.
Source: www.colleenndemeh.com
