Mandjou Mara is a musician who was born in the west African nation of Guinea, and has spent the last 10 years living in Madison. He’s a singer and a master of the djembe, and during his time here, he’s been teaching West African percussion and leading the band Kikeh Mato. Mara and Kikeh Mato […]
Hannah O’Hare Bennett’s feral materials
Artist Hannah O’Hare Bennett takes familiar objects and materials and makes them feel wild. She creates pincushions with unruly tufts of fur, books that turn into messy spirals, and embroidery that looks rough and brittle. The work draws a lot of inspiration from the materials that people source from the natural environment. In a way, Bennett’s […]
Inside Everyday Gay Holiday
A lot of the workspaces and studios that artists use in Madison are kind of tucked away, whether it’s visual art studios at the Art Lofts on the UW-Madison campus or music practice spaces off in the industrial areas of town. Perhaps that’s why a space called Everyday Gay Holiday stands out so much. Seven different artists […]
Sky Hopinka on dislocation and language
Sky Hopinka is a Milwaukee-based filmmaker who uses a variety of experimental visual and audio approaches to explore the experiences of indigenous Americans. One of his most recent projects, Dislocation Blues, offers what Hopinka himself calls an “incomplete and imperfect portrait of reflections from Standing Rock.” His work asks a lot of complicated questions about how native […]