Everything Is Connected

 Welcome to Season 6 of Light Work Presents: Everything is Connected. 

This year, we're releasing bigger episodes, recording more episodes, and deepening conversations at the intersection of art, education, and culture.   

More artists and more art. More impactful conversations on art and culture. Exclusive resources, BTS footage of my travels and insights into the international art world and more! 

I've just launched our my...

On this episode I’m joined by Bisa Butler. We discuss her pivot from painting to quilting, what it was like for her to study at an HBCU, she earned her BFA in Painting at Howard University, how that experience shaped her and what she hopes her work does in the world. Bisa talks about her recent exhibition Hold Me Close that was previously on view at Jeffrey Deitch Gallery in LA.

Bisa Butler (b. 1973) lives and works in New Jersey. S...

On this episode I’m joined by Rashaad Newsome as we discuss his film Assembly. The documentary details the personal journey and events that inspired his 2022 Park Avenue Armory installation. I was fortunate to attend a final performance, thanks to my ARTNOIR family, and was captivated by Rashaad's immersive world. Shoutout to ART NOIR!

I especially loved the dances and spoken word segments, which highlighted the participatory n...

On this episode I’m joined by Salome Asega. Salome and I discuss her journey from working at the Ford Foundation to returning to a more intimate engagement with artists at New Inc. 

We cover the importance of alternative spaces for artists, how New Inc supports interdisciplinary creators, and the impact of geopolitical tensions on creative communities. And the significance of teaching, community, and place-based work, emphasizi...

On this episode I’m joined by Kennedy Yanko as we discuss her recent artistic endeavors, working with paper pulp prints which are on view in her latest exhibition, Without Gravity, at Pace Prints now through Oct 4th. Kennedy shares the joy of returning to immediate, experimental creation, reminiscent of her earlier abstract expressionist paintings. She reflects on her 20-year journey as an artist, acknowledging the challenges and g...

On this episode I’m joined by Michelle Kuo, Chief Curator at Large and Publisher, of the MoMA, as we discuss Jack Whitten: The Messenger, the first comprehensive retrospective dedicated to the groundbreaking art of Jack Whitten (American, 1939–2018). The exhibition showcased more than 175 works from the 1960s to the 2010s, including paintings, sculptures, rarely shown works on paper, and archival materials to explore the depth and ...

On this episode I’m joined by Brice Yonkeu as we discuss his career in the arts. With a background in political science, Brice transitioned to the arts, seeking to make a more relevant contribution to culture. In this episode, he shares his experiences working in the arts, from opening his own gallery, Bwo Art Gallery in Cameroon, to participating in Amoako Boafo’s residency, dot.ateliers, as the first curator in residency, and sho...

On this episode I’m joined by Hugh Hayden as we discuss his newly commissioned work presented for 16 edition of the Sharjah Biennial, elucidated through the curatorial theme, to carry. Asking questions such as, what does it mean to carry a home, a history, a language, a legacy, and a lineage.

Hugh Hayden was born in Dallas, Texas in 1983 and lives and works in New York City. He holds an MFA from Columbia University and a Bachelor of...

On this episode I’m joined by Cassi Namoda as we discuss her newly commissioned work presented for 16 edition of the Sharjah Biennial, elucidated through the curatorial theme, to carry. Asking questions such as, what does it mean to carry a home, a history, a language, a legacy, and a lineage.

Born in Maputo, Mozambique, Cassi Namoda is known for her strong color palette and narrative approach to painting. Her hybrid narratives are ...

On this episode I’m joined by Luke Willis Thompson as we discuss his newly commissioned work presented for 16 edition of the Sharjah Biennial, elucidated through the curatorial theme, to carry. Asking questions such as what does it mean to carry a home, a history, a language, a legacy, and a lineage.

Luke Willis Thompson is a New Zealand artist of Fijian and European descent, currently working primarily in film and across performanc...

On this episode I’m joined by Rita Mawuena Benissan as we discuss her newly commissioned works presented for 16 edition of the Sharjah Biennial, elucidated through the curatorial theme, to carry. Asking questions such as what does it mean to carry a home, a history, a language, a legacy, and a lineage.

Born in Abidjan, Cote D’Ivoire in 1995 to Ghanaian parents, Rita's journey led her to the United States as a baby, where she ea...

On this episode I’m joined by Kaloki Nyamai as we discuss his newly commissioned works presented for 16 edition of the Sharjah Biennial, elucidated through the curatorial theme, to carry. Asking questions such as what does it mean to carry a home, a history, a language, a legacy, and a lineage.

Kaloki Nyamai is a multidisciplinary artist working with installation, painting, and sculpture living and working in Nairobi. Born in Kenya,...

On this episode I’m joined by Rajni Perera as we discuss his newly commissioned works presented for 16 edition of the Sharjah Biennial, elucidated through the curatorial theme, to carry. Asking questions such as what does it mean to carry a home, a history, a language, a legacy, and a lineage? 

Rajni Perera was born in Sri Lanka in 1985 and lives and works in Toronto. She explores issues of hybridity, futurity, ancestorship, migrant...

On this episode I’m joined by Daniel Boyd as we discuss his newly commissioned work presented for 16 edition of the Sharjah Biennial, elucidated through the curatorial theme, to carry. Asking questions such as, what does it mean to carry a home, a history, a language, a legacy, and a lineage.

Born in 1982 in Cairns Australia, Daniel Boyd is one of Australia’s most highly regarded artists. In 2014, Boyd became the first indigenous ar...

On this episode I’m joined by Zadie Xa as we discuss her newly commissioned works presented for 16 edition of the Sharjah Biennial, elucidated through the curatorial theme, to carry. Asking questions such as what does it mean to carry a home, a history, a language, a legacy, and a lineage.

Zadie Xa was born in Vancouver, Canada on unceded, ancestral and continually asserted territories of several tribes of First Nations Peoples and ...

On this episode I’m joined by Julian Knxx as we discuss his newly commissioned work presented for 16 edition of the Sharjah Biennial, elucidated through the curatorial theme, to carry. Asking questions such as, what does it mean to carry a home, a history, a language, a legacy, and a lineage.

Julianknxx’s work merges his poetic practice with films and performance; he engages in a form of existential inquiry that at once seeks to fin...

On this episode I’m joined by Ndidi Dike as we discuss her newly commissioned works presented for 16 edition of the Sharjah Biennial, elucidated through the curatorial theme, to carry. Asking questions such as what does it mean to carry a home, a history, a language, a legacy, and a lineage.

Ndidi Dike was born in London. She returned to Nigeria to train as a painter and graduated from the University of Nigeria, Nsukka, graduating w...

On this episode I’m joined by Hoor Al Qasimi during the opening week of the Sharjah Biennial 16.

Al Qasimi is the President and Director Sharjah Art Foundation, an organization she founded in 2009 as a catalyst and advocate for the arts around the world. She has been the Director of Sharjah Biennial since 2002, an internationally recognized platform for contemporary artists, curators and cultural producers, and curated Thinking Hist...

On this episode, I’m joined by Julien Creuzet, the Afro-descendant French Caribbean artist who has his first institutional solo exhibition on view now through June 1, 2025 at The Bell at Brown University in Providence Rhode Island. 

In the episode Creuzet shares his artistic journey and passion for making exhibitions where he can have a discussion through art. His work spans various mediums including sculpture, poetry, video, music,...