MFA Guest Artist Series
Featured Artists

September 22, 2021
Micha Espinosa and Paloma Martinez-Cruz, Ph.D.
"La Pocha Nostra: Intimate Performance Pedagogy for Every Surge"

Micha Espinosa (La Frontera) Core Member, Pedagogue, Mourner, and Vocal Terrorist
Her tongue, gives her away. Ni de aqui ni de allá. Her loyalties to her global community, the one earth momma and papa, and the freaks of this world. Nails weak, short, and dirty, muddled blood, imprinted with healthy doses of alcoholism and corrido ethics. A radical feminist who takes after her macho father, pulled by the weight of her societal obligations and debt, whose posture and gait has been affected by chasing impossible forms of beauty, writing over sacred bones and bodies under concrete structures of learning. She suffers and profits in the gutter of splintered aca-dementia. Now, Buddha belly breathing, relearning the natural before the supernatural, defining herself, becoming a vessel for the psychic wounds of the frontera, feeling the rapid beating of her heart, the release of her tongue- she is ready to scream.

To learn more, visit:
http://www.michaespinosa.com
https://www.guillermogomezpena.com/la-pocha-nostra/
http://www.latinoactor.com

Paloma Martinez-Cruz, Ph.D. is an interdisciplinary writer and scholar-artivist based in Columbus, Ohio.  She is the author of Food Fight! Millennial Mestizaje Meets the Culinary Marketplace (2019), Women and Knowledge in Mesoamerica: From East L.A. to Anahuac (2011), and editor of A Handbook for the Rebel Artist in a Post-Democratic Society by Guillermo Gómez-Peña and Saul Garcia Lopez (2021).  An associate professor of Latinx Cultural Studies at The Ohio State University, Martinez-Cruz curates and hosts Onda Latina Ohio. She is a core member of Guillermo Gómez-Peña's La Pocha Nostra live art company as a performer, poet, and editor. 

To learn more, visit https://www.palomamartinezcruz.com/

César García-Alvarez
August 27, 2021
"Brownness as Practice"

César García-Alvarez is a writer, curator, scholar, and producer based in Los Angeles, CA. He is the Founding Executive & Artistic Director of The Mistake Room (TMR)—an independent space and global-reaching platform for art, culture, and ideas. Prior to founding TMR  he served as Associate Director and Senior Curator of LAXART (2007-2012). García-Alvarez was one of the curators of Made in L.A. 2012 and in 2013 served as the US Commissioner for the 13th International Cairo Biennial in Egypt. Most recently he served as co-curator of Desert X 2021 in the Coachella Valley. Currently, García-Alvarez is organizing one of the largest surveys of Latinx Art in the US in nearly two decades slated for 2023 across multiple venues in Los Angeles. He is also the principal investigator for a forthcoming TMR exhibition that explores the intersection of art narrative medicine  slated for 2024 as part of the Getty’s Pacific Standard Time initiative.

For more, visit The Mistake Room’s (www.tmr.la).

Ramy Youssef
June 23, 2021
"Ramy Talking"

Ramy Youssef is a Golden Globe-winning Egyptian-American creator, actor, producer, director, and comedian who brings his unique voice and perspective to his storytelling. He won the 2020 Golden Globe Award® on behalf of "Ramy" in the category of ‘Best Performance by an Actor in a Television Series – Musical or Comedy.’ Youssef created, produced and stars in the hit Hulu show, which is inspired by his own experiences centering around a first-generation Egyptian-American Muslim on a spiritual journey in his politically divided New Jersey neighborhood. Most recently, the Television Academy nominated Youssef for two 2020 Emmy Awards® in the categories of "Outstanding Lead Actor in a Comedy Series" and "Outstanding Directing for a Comedy Series" on behalf of the second season of "Ramy." Youssef was also nominated for a Critics’ Choice Award and a Writers Guild Award for his one-hour HBO comedy special "Ramy Youssef: Feelings" produced by A24. Youssef, through his partnership with A24, is working on creating and developing subsequent projects. The first show will star "Ramy" series regular Stephen Way in a story illustrating the perspective and experience of a disabled person and their family in a real way. Youssef will executive produce both this series and an untitled show currently in production with Netflix.

Follow Ramy Youssef on Instagram @ramy.

Damon Turner
May 25, 2021
"Real Trap Sh*t: At the Intersection of Culture and Equity"

At the junction of community development, cultural and equity, and artistic activism, Damon Turner founded TRAP HEALS, a creative agency invested in (re)shaping social ideas that honor and heal disenfranchised communities; through live experiences, art Installations, brand development, consulting, creative direction, artist management and security.

In the Fall of 2018, TRAP HEALS served as lead developers of the art & cultural efforts of Black Lives Matter Global Network, successfully executing healing experiences at Afropunk Atlanta, ComplexCon, and Art Basel Miami. In January 2020, Trap Heals debuted  “Proximity”, a greenhouse in South Central LA in conjunction with the film “Just Mercy” to honor the stories of incarcerated folks and highlight local artists and musicians to discuss change and  criminal justice reform while centering healing. 

An artist at his core, Damon is also a rapper and musician, dropping several projects in 2020, including several singles, EP’s, and a video collaboration, named “PROPHETIC: Trap Healed”, with Fader for their virtual FaderFort series.

Learn more about Damon and his work at: https://www.trapheals.com

Lauren Halsey
April 17, 2021
"SUMMAEVERYTHANG"

Lauren Halsey is rethinking the possibilities for art, architecture, and community engagement. She produces both standalone artworks and site-specific projects, particularly in the South Central neighborhood of Los Angeles where her family has lived for several generations. Combining found, fabricated, and handmade objects, Halsey’s work maintains a sense of civic urgency and free-flowing imagination, reflecting the lives of the people and places around her and addressing the crucial issues confronting people of color, queer populations, and the working class. Critiques of gentrification and disenfranchisement are accompanied by real-world proposals as well as celebration of on-the-ground aesthetics. Inspired by Afrofuturism and funk, as well as the signs and symbols that populate her local environments,  Halsey creates a visionary form of culture that is at once radical and collaborative.

Learn more about Lauren at
http://www.laurenhalsey.com/

Michael David Battle
March 23, 2021

Michael David Battle is a visual, mixed media artist and memoir writer based on the east coast. He is the founder and co-executive global director at Garden of Peace, Inc. A father, brother, uncle, son, and community leader. Mr. Battle’s art is reflective of his experiences and learnings and is inextricably linked to the lives of his ancestors—centers on the lives of those called and uncalled, named and unnamed. Mr. Battle’s work is a living, breathing libation. Through it, he is led and inspired to celebrate our lives, loves, and lived experiences.

Learn more about Michael and his work at visit www.mdbattle.art and 
www.gardenofpeaceproject.org.