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baba iya

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curriculum vitae

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what if artists weren’t only makers of images and words, but co-conspirators in societal transformation? what if we made marvelousness with the masses whilst composting the cruel corporatocracy? what if we organized artists, writers, and culture creators to take part in this transition from image, art, “word to world?” These are the questions that guide socialist surrealism—a synthesis of movements and theories guided by observing herstoric constellatory connections of creative revolutionary and liberatory practices across the globe.

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my poetic practice began shortly after birth and evolved alongside my evolution as an artist. from a toddler collaging kraft paper into Egyptian dieties and making mosaics with maize, to a teenager writing rhythmic rhymes and digitally designing documentaries, to a collegiate classmate crafting love letters for friends, fashioning fae ‘fits, and composing analysis of corporate and patriarchal paradigms, the expressive endeavors of my childhood were chalked full of curiosity and creation.

yet, doubts developed in hearing the doublespeak of industry reps. perspectives pivoted in climatic contradictions of settler state reactions. meditations with Mother Earth, enriched through polyamorous play, precipitated psychic automatic poems. my mind found freedom to unshackle my soul from a white patriarchal christian capitalist realism. interrogations of indoctrinations, critical reflections alongside studies of struggles for decolonization, strategies for liberation, records of resistance, stories of societal surrealizations, and tales from trancestors, nurtured insurgent imaginations. visions poured into drawings, collages, designs, poetry, and paintings. each piece holding symbolic expressions drawn from independent and collaboratively cultivated education, crafted to inspire organization and kindle cultural revolution.

since coming to wander by the waters of Wašíŋ Wakpá, i have conducted a localized education and art distribution campaign to combat Amerikan propaganda. beginning with a series of linocut carvings, graphics woven with surrealist quotes—like “Comrade Eros Makes Love & Revolution” by René Depestre and “Treason to Whiteness is Loyalty to Humanity” from Race Traitor— were stamped onto political education booklets which subsequently where distributed in Little Free Libraries across the city. this activity bloomed into art builds where comrades and community members came together to make agit-prop, watch revolutionary films, receive acudetox, recite poetry, and share food & drink.

Through problem posing education and dialogic discussions within an organized anti—colonial book club, i came to create a visual synthesis of Paulo Freire’s "Pedagogy of the Oppressed," paired with a proposal for a local autonomous governance test project. that work is still emerging as the seeds are shared.

101 years and 1 month post the inculcation of surrealism into the lexicon of European pedagogy, i self-published a “femifesto for socialist surrealism” within a soirée of communistic camaraderie; an evening abundant in conversations with communal oracles, collages of femme fatale luminaries, quotation cards, dazabaos drawn up to decry dystopia, enchanting libations, transcendent tattoos, poignant poetry, and cunty chaos. the event unveiled herstories and pathways for our futures, of art movements rooted in serving the people, liberating the mind from colonial indoctrination, and transforming societies into worlds of marvelousness.

"To take part in the African revolution it is not enough to write a revolutionary song; you must fashion the revolution with the people,” writes Ahmed Sékou Touré. It is in this spirit, that an organized collective of socialist surrealists will soon take shape. synthesizing dialectical materialism with the spirit, we aim to move past interpreting the world and towards changing it.

in the undercommons, a rhizomatic resistance cultivates a revolutionary culture. new worlds are being birthed in the cracks of a crumbling fascist foundation. the reign of the Amerikkkan Hydra will be challenged as we ignite and transform El Lizitsky’s red wedge into a kaleidoscopic prism of possibilities. The end of the empire beckons, it’s our time to strike.