Afro Diasporic Art and Healing Collage Workshop with Idris Hassan

Workshop Summary

“Afro Diasporic Art and Healing" is a restorative multimedia and interactive workshop session introducing participants to the value of artistic expression as a healing tool in the African Diaspora.

This workshop is part of the “40 x 40 Reach - Living Practices Series” and is presented in partnership with The Black Cultural Zone Sisterhood Circle, the AfroPortals Project Space & Archive, and the Black Women In Mourning & Joy Collective.

Additional funding support by “ReCAST “ (Resiliency in Communities After Stress and Trauma)

Artist Bio

Idris Hassan is a mixed-media visual artist working in various mediums. Her art work incorporates the themes of healing and belonging. With an archive of twenty plus years of work her craft has elevated from 35mm photography to digital and mixed media collage pieces.

For over ten years Ms. Hassan has been showcased as a featured artist and documentarian for the historic exhibition. Pieces from her body of work entitled the "Reverence Series" were featured in " exhibition at the Marlowe Gallery in San Francisco, CA in 2024.

During her artist residency with in Morocco, Africa, she produced a mixed media series and accompanying booklet entitled “From Kemet to Cotton: Sankofa”, which explores the connection between the ancient African civilization of Kemet and the enslaved African’s history with the currency known as cotton.

Her photography, mixed media, and collage work have been featured in the “Black Artists on Art” Legacy Exhibit at Oakstop Gallery, the Annual “The Art of Living Black” Exhibition at the Richmond Art Center, and in 2020 she was a featured artist in at the Museum of the African Diaspora in San Francisco. In 2021 her digital art collage about the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic in communities of color entitled "Masks Sold Here" was featured in the "Art of the African Diaspora" online exhibition hosted by the Richmond Art Center.

In 2021 Idris Hassan served as co-editor, photographer, and co-publisher of a documentary book project entitled which was made possible by a grant from the Akonadi Foundation.

Contact

Email: [email protected]

Web: https://idrishassanarts.weebly.com/

COMMUNITY PARTNERSHIPS:

An ongoing FREE monthly teaching artist-led Living Practice Sessions- a series of monthly workshops intended to support professional development, community learning, creative exchange, wellness, cultural practice, and professional enrichment of Black Arts and Culture workers, brought to you by the 40x40 Initiative's REACH Grant via the East Oakland Black Cultural Zone's Cultural Arts Network.

Black Cultural Zone's Quality of Life Networking Group Sisterhood Circle

The Sisterhood is a gathering and safe space for women across the African diaspora that come together monthly in community to break bread and engage in activities and discussions that help us recognize our power and heal while holding each other up. Black Women have the opportunity to share and affirm our stories and build connections that extend across time.

The Black Women in Mourning & Joy Collective is an itinerant arts and social practice experiment conducted by independent curator, public archivist, and artist in Oakland, CA. Through guided storytelling, journaling, and creative workshops, women & femmes gather to collectively witness and transmute trauma, grief and rage into art work. The practice accesses and honors color, sound, movement, and writing in ritual conversation with the elements of earth, air, water, fire, and ether.

The AfroPortals Project Space & Archive

The AfroPortals Project Space & Archive is an experimental, interactive, art and design lab rooted in the principles of Afrofuturism, Black Memory, and Collective Liberation stewarded by the Artist As First Responder collective. Through in-person and digital technologies, a global network of sites for creative inquiry at the intersection of justice and care are activated and shared.

ReCAST Initiative

The purpose of the City of Oakland’s Resiliency in Communities After Stress and Trauma (ReCAST) initiative is to assist highly stressed youth and families in receiving community-driven trauma and resilience support to improve their behavioral and mental health in the areas of REST, REPAIR, and REBUILD, thus creating more resilient communities and reducing incidents of violence and trauma.