Heirlooms Zine Release Party + Potluck | Symposium 2023

Heirlooms Release Party and Potluck - Join us for the celebration of the Heirlooms: On What We Pass Down, edited by Dena Igusti. How do we live with what we inherit? What is considered hereditary? What defines a lineage, and is it always bound by blood? By disposition? By tragedy?

Artists Dena Igusti, Anastasia Alphina, Kiana Widodo, Nzzy, Prince Edwards, and Kaira Widodo will showcase their manifestations of the things passed down to us, what we want to honor as a relic, and what we navigate as the archivists of the generations before us. There will be screenings of works by each artist, and a potluck hosted by Nongkrong NYC.

DENA IGUSTI, Fall 2022 Culture Push Fellow

Dena Igusti is a queer non binary Indonesian Muslim poet, playwright, filmmaker, producer, and FGC survivor & activist born and raised in Queens, New York. They are the author of CUT WOMAN (Game Over Books, 2020), which has been listed as a 2020 Harvard Bookstore Staff Pick and a Entropy Mag’s Best Of 2020-2021, and I NEED THIS TO NOT SWALLOW ME ALIVE (Gingerbug Press, 2021). They are the co-playwright of the wish: a manual for a last-ditch effort to save abortion in the united states through theater. They are the founder of Dearest Mearest. Their work has been featured in BOAAT Press, Peregrine Journal, and several other publications. Their work has been produced and performed at The Brooklyn Museum, The Apollo Theater, the 2018 Teen Vogue Summit, Players Theatre (SHARUM, 2019), Prelude Festival (Cut Woman, 2020), Center At West Park (CON DOUGH, 2021), The Tank (First Sight 2021 at LimeFest), and several other venues internationally.

Kaira Widodo is an Indonesian photographer and alumni of Photography and Video at the School of Visual Arts in New York City. Kaira focuses on documenting creative stories that focus on identity, culture, religion, and feeling. Works have been displayed at Chelsea, Flatiron SVA Gallery and Mustard Seen Hotel Gallery in Tokyo.

NINEL NEKAY (preferably known as Nzzy) (she/her) is a second-generation Jamaican-American Southerner & interdisciplinary cultural worker whose art demonstrates the stifled desires and salvation of Black Americans. As a writer, performer, creative director, documentarian, lecturer, theorist, and practitioner of the philosophies she depicts within her work, Nzzy seeks to entice fellow worldbuilders to reimagine their agency and pursue their own utopias. Her creative work has been featured at The Alliance Theater, The Fox Theater, The Center For Civil And Human Rights, The War Memorial Opera House, The Kennedy Center For Performing Arts, We Day, Georgia Public Broadcasting, and more.

Kiana Widodo is a queer Indonesian multimedia artist from New York City who graduated with a BFA of Illustration from SVA in 2020. Her work entitled kenang-kenangan (keepsake), is a risograph series where she pays homage to her late aunt, Tia. As someone who grew up going back and forth between the US and Indonesia, she gravitates towards taking imagery from her past and using familiar objects to reconnect with her Indonesian heritage. By shedding light on subtle moments that may seem mundane at first glance but are deeply ingrained in her diasporic identity, she hopes to incite conversation and reflection in those who interact with her work.

Born July 6th, 2001, A. Prince Edwards (He/Him/His) is Video Editor and Filmmaker based in Brooklyn, New York. Growing up within the concrete jungle, Prince is no stranger to the various issues that the city presents including hardships such as homelessness, gentrification, as well as discrimination against minorities of various races, genders, and sexualities. From his film “Life, Liberty, and The Pursuit of Happiness”, a brief yet relevant dive into the current state of immigration within New York City, to Solo, a semi-animated film about a young man trying to get his body back from a paranormal spirit from a different realm, Prince Edwards’ work often features unique lenses into the lives of others along with the issues they deal with on a physical and social level. Recently, Prince has delved more into the technological aspect of digital media, and has honed in on pioneering methods of storytelling that combine already established formats of expression within film, photography, and video editing and rehashing them in a new light.

Anastasia Alphina is an interdisciplinary artist whose ultimate goal is to use art and storytelling to build collective empathy and create spaces, both physical and non physical, where people are free to be their authentic selves without fear. Their creative practice explores a range of different mediums, including book and zinemaking, film, writing, soft structure, and more. Their work has been featured in several publications, including Sunstroke Magazine and Rookie Magazine, and has been exhibited at the State Museum of Pennsylvania and the Free Library of Philadelphia.

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