Biography
Kristina Kay Robinson is a writer, curator, and visual artist born and raised in New Orleans, Louisiana. She is the coeditor of Mixed Company, a collection of short fiction and visual narratives by women of color. Her curatorial endeavors include Khalid Abdel Rahman’s ” A Disappearance” and Republica: Temple of Color and Sound, an aesthetic reimagining of New Orleans and the Gulf Coast. A two-time Callaloo fellow, her writing in various genres has appeared in Guernica, The Baffler, The Nation and Elle.com among other outlets.
Research
Republica: Temple of Color and Sound Project Description
Republica: Temple of Color and Sound is a multi-modal arts project reimagining the past, present and future of the Gulf Coast region of North America. Inspired by early revolts of African and Natives in the Louisiana Colony such as the 1729 Natchez/Bambara revolt, the 1795 plot at Pointe Coupee and the 1811 German Coast Uprising, Republica: Temple of Color and Sound reimagines the revolt as a successful uprising of Black||Indigenous peoples.The project will introduce the public to the territory’s most famous living citizen, “Maryam de Capita.” Embodied by Kristina Kay Robinson, Maryam is the proprietor of Temple of Color and Sound, a mobile shrine and performance space dedicated to the memory and principles embodied by the rebellion. Using the internet, film and performing arts the project will explore examine and subvert the concepts and consequences of state surveillance, environmental abuses, and data collection by tracing the historical roots of the rebellion and its participants in the Senegambia region, New Orleans and the Caribbean. The completed public installation project would involve a publication and visual recreation of present day Republica, presented in live exhibition and on web- based platforms.
