“Up/Root is a ritual performance which explores finding “home” amid displacement and loss through the daily practices that create grounding and connection. It is an invitation into my intimate space of healing and reflection.

With this work, I explore the questions which engage the complexity of my experience as a black woman in the world, and the interconnectivity of our pain and joy. Who are we when no one is looking? What private spaces do we create to bring us into contact with our grief and loss, the expansion and contraction of our day-to-day experiences? What does it mean to be at home in our bodies and the places we inhabit? How do we come home to ourselves?” - Kyana Brindle

Artist Statement:

Kyana Brindle is a performing artist and psychotherapist from New York City. Her work addresses themes of healing and identity, reframing of personal and cultural narratives, and spiritual practice. Live performances focus on the use of ritual elements to create spaces of shared healing experiences with audiences, and an interest in the exploration of emotional and creative processes which facilitate becoming agents of change in our lives and communities. She is Co-Founder and Director of Artist Engagement for Nfinit Foundation Arts, with whom she developed Naked Layers, a multimedia film project exploring black womanhood and body image, which was exhibited at the Garner Arts Festival in 2017. She is Co-Director of the Nfinit Foundation Artist Residency, which offers subsidized studio and exhibition space to artists of the Diaspora, POC, and LGBTQ+ communities.