Queer, trans, Black, Indigenous, people of color, working class, immigrants, people with disabilities have always been futurists. Asking the world to imagine futures without prisons, police brutality, and borders. Rebuilding and reimagining, sometimes without any other choice.
Practicing Futures is a 3-hour skills-building workshop for artists, storytellers, and creatives interested in building visions of the future. Led by artist and educator Bianca Nozaki-Nasser, the session draws on elements of science fiction, social movements, and speculative object-making as tools for forging futures.
Participants will leave with new creative outputs and an expanded set of practices for dreaming beyond moments of crisis, toward the worlds they want to live in.
Come ready to imagine. Leave ready to build.
This workshop is part of the programming for our current show, Into The Plursiverse
THE CURATOR
Nordia Simmonds (they/she) is a queer Afro-Caribbean diasporic philosopher and activist by way of Jamaica, Bronx, New York, and Central Florida. Nordia holds a Masters of Arts in Depth Psychology with a specialization in Community, Liberation, Indigenous, and Eco-Psychologies (CLIE) from Pacifica Graduate Institute. Her curatorial approach is both a care practice and pedagogical tool that expresses consideration for all persons and art pieces involved in any given project whilst acting as an interlocutor to relay messages between the audience and the artwork. They enlist decolonial feminist frameworks in their work to support non-hierarchical and non-binary thinking. For her, this project is at once an offering, meditation, and practice of a worldbuilding without borders.
Sovern LA is an intersectional community center and gallery, located in LA’s West Adams district, focused on supporting Black and Indigenous women and gender expansive people of color. Fueled by a passion for justice, equality, and creative expression, Sovern is driven by the collective determination to center healing justice, challenge systemic barriers, empower artists of color, and amplify their impact for collective wellbeing. By building a community that uplifts and celebrates diverse voices, we aim to reshape the art world in Los Angeles and beyond, creating a more inclusive and equitable space where artists and communities can thrive together.
A note on accessibility: Sovern LA is committed to creating a space that is welcoming and accessible to all. At this time, our building does not have ramps, which limits physical access for some community members. We recognize this as an area that needs improvement and are actively workingaking the space more accessible. We do our best to accommodate people of varying abilities and encourage anyone with specific access needs to reach out before attending so we can support you as best we can.