In Minneapolis with Trista McGovern, SAMU & Gabriel “Freaque” Rodreick

Daniel takes a quick detour in Minneapolis and invites influencer and educator SAMU, musician Gabriel "Freaque" Rodreick, and photographer Trista McGovern to discuss their art and advocacy practices. They explore how they merge the two, face ableism online, navigate grieving capacities, and how intersectionality manifests in their practices. 

Video Podcast Version

Chapters

• Show Open (00:00)
• Introductions (00:16)
• Self-Descriptions (01:18)
• Trista on Art Practices & Intersectionality (02:40)
• Response from Able-Bodied Audiences (05:09)
• SAMU on Attitudes Towards Disabled Art & Ableism Online (07:17)
• Gabriel on Touring & Building His Music Career (11:04)
• Inaccessible Opportunities & Accessible Venues (12:22)
• Changing Course & Moving Forward (14:18)
• Crip Elders, Mentors, Art & Activism (17:39)
• Activist Burnout & the Disability Community (20:24)
• Compounding Identities, Being an Educator & Sharing Your Platform (25:15)
• Closing Remarks & Credits (29:24)

Guest Bio's

Trista Marie McGovern (Minneapolis)

I am a queer disabled photographer, writer, model, and interdisciplinary artist. My work is fueled by exploring human story and personal identity. 

I am an advocate for disability issues and ableism awareness through personal and collaborative projects, with a strong focus on sexuality. I am driven by social justice values and involvement including environmental, racial, disability, and transformative justice and police abolition. 

My work in intimate portraits as a photographer focuses on breaking down barriers to illuminate vulnerability and individual personalities. 

My driving force for making and intent of my artwork and advocacy practice is to cultivate joy and foster connectedness with each other and within ourselves. 

• Webpage
• Facebook
• Instagram
• TikTok
• Linktree

SAMU (Minneapolis)

A deaf/blind hispanic Tiktoker and social media advocate, SAMU has a massive following 1 million followers on Tiktok and 60k on Instagram. They frequently use their platform to boost causes' traction, educate able bodied audiences on the effects of policy, and strengthen the disabled community on social media. 

• Facebook: @samerubii
• Instagram: @samerubii 
• TikTok: @samerubi

Gabriel "Freaque" Rodreick (Minneapolis)

Freaque is for the derelicts, the heretics, the tree stumps, and those who live on the fringes of society. A tattered voice, made of strung out words, hung to dry over broken chords on his mother’s piano. “Decompose" was created in his childhood dining room, on the piano he played for 11 years before a spinal cord injury took away his hands. In a wooden womb of darkness, he took what he had and rose above a society that constantly tells us we are not enough, that we’re only worth the possessions we own, the money in our bank accounts, and our body's abilities. We do not have to conform to societal standards to be valued as human beings. That is why he creates music and art.

His music is used as the soundtrack for A Cripple’s Dance. It ranges from stripped down blues and dirt-folk off of his EP “Decompose", to groovy,