MoAD, YBCA & Empowerment Avenue present | In Solidarity: Our Words Scale Walls

Описание: MoAD, YBCA & Empowerment Avenue present

In Solidarity: Our Words Scale Walls

A live poetry reading inside the exhibition gallery space at YBCA featuring a live mix with DJ Sandina, "La Positiva." This event brings together poets from both inside and outside the prison for an afternoon of poetry and radical expression.

Featuring five women poets—Ladi Rev, Briana Victoria Leung, Angelique Estella, and co-curators of The Only Door I Can Open: Women Exposing Prison Through Art, Tomiekia Johnson and Chantell-Jeannette Black.

Tomiekia and Chantell-Jeannette will call in from the Central California Women's Facility at Chowchilla, sharing new works that reflect on surveillance, exposure, and the pressures of prison life. Poets performing in person will respond to the exhibition and the prison room installation with original pieces, forming a collective act of solidarity.



About the Poets

Tomiekia Johnson is a black woman born in Torrance and raised in Compton, California. Tomiekia earned a bachelor’s degree in public administration (criminal justice) on a basketball scholarship from Cal State Dominguez Hills. She is a certified minister of the Gospel, a distinction obtained while wrongly incarcerated in the Central California Women’s Facility, where she is currently housed. Tomiekia has published as a prison journalist in publications like Prison Journalism Project and the Spotlong Review. Her poem “Queen Restored” sold at auction and she wildly impressed judges, staff, and peers with an art exhibit she curated for Black History Month 2022. This project is her second time curating an art exhibition.

Chantell-Jeannette Black was born and raised in California and started drawing from a young age. She is self taught in painting, beading, jewelry-making, scrapbooking, dance and a plethora of other arts and crafts. She graduated Cum Laude from California State University, Sacramento in 2013 and was teaching an art class in the Central California Women’s Facility’s Art Therapy program before it shut down in 2023. She also volunteers to create holiday decorations for her housing unit, and makes painted decorative pillows and blankets for other incarcerated people to purchase with canteen food. The Only Door I Can Open: Women Exposing Prison Through Art is her first curatorial project. Since then she has contributed art to Work Assignments: Forced Prison Labor in the Land of the Free, Antioch (2024) and Finding Freedom from the Inside: Stories Shaped In and Out Incarceration, La Peña Cultural Center. (2024)

LadiRevolutionary (@ladirev) is an educator, poet, and healer from Bayview Hunters Point, San Francisco, CA. She is passionate about community, education, and healing. She has over a decade of experience working as a facilitator/educator in youth development and has created trauma-informed youth development curriculum and workshops. LadiRev also facilitates healing workshops for service providers and community members that work and reside in Bayview Hunters Point. Lastly, she is the host of Talkn Owt Da Side of Da Necc podcast which focuses on individual healing practices for everyday life.

Briana Victoria Leung is a 21 y/o Bay-Area based queer BIPOC storyteller and healer who has been writing, performing, and competing in the local poetry scene for the last decade. Briana describes themselves as an "artivist" (artist/activist), oral historian, and a conduit for their ancestors, using poetry and storytelling to explore social and political issues.

Angelique Estella (@liqueestella) is a dynamic force in spoken word and event curation, celebrated for crafting unforgettable experiences that leave audiences moved and inspired. A captivating performer and visionary curator, she masterfully blends artistry, community, and culture, both on and off the stage.

Angelique also leads the NPM 30 for 30 initiative, a thriving Facebook community now in its ninth year, challenging poets to write 30 pieces in 30 days every April. Through her performances, events, and leadership, she amplifies voices, fosters connections, and elevates artistic expression, creating spaces where words hold power and creativity thrives.

DJ Sandina "La Positiva" (@djlapositiva) spins music with a melody and a message designed to uplift the spirit and empower the soul. Host of the Podcast "Women Rising Radio," Sandina has DJ'd at the de Young Museum, Minna Gallery, Bioneers - Revolution from the Heart of Nature, and the Global Fund for Women among others.

‍