Our ancestors and freedom fighters intentionally and expertly used ecology as a tool for liberation. From the engagement with the physical geography, to information gathered from the movement of celestial bodies, to the symbiotic relationship built between us and the animals in these environments, we have forged a pathway to our freedom.
Join us on Saturday, September 26 for “Sou Sou! Saturdays: Heat, Marronage & Liberation”, presented in collaboration with artist Lizania Cruz and her Adobe Creative Residency at MoMA, for an intergenerational exploration of the links between ecology and resistance through storytelling, collective artmaking, conversations and heat generation through movement.
FEATURING:
📚 Storytelling
We will revisit and reimagine the role of the mosquito as a character in folktales that link West Africa to the Caribbean.
🗺️ collective mapping
Through collective mapping of our stories and practices, we will explore the use of ecology as a tool of healing.
🎤 PANEL CONVERSATION
A panel discussion will engage the integrated topics of heat, marronage and liberation through plant knowledge and carnival characters such as Dame Lorraine and Jonkonnu.
🎉 FETE
We close the day with a Fete that allows the embodiment of heat as a tool for individual and collective liberation.
📅 Saturday, September 26, 2026
🕚 12 PM – 5 PM
📍 CCCADI Ilé Oyin (208 E 126th St.)
💫 FREE | RSVP REQUIRED
About Sou Sou! Saturdays:
Inspired by the financial resource-sharing traditions known throughout the African Diaspora by such names as "Colecta", "Box Hand", "San", "Partna", or "Sou-Sou", this family-based art and education program reinterprets Sou Sou as an exchange of cultural resources. Sou Sou! Saturdays celebrates and honors our connections by upholding our traditions of collective growth, mindfulness, celebration, and creativity with families of all ages.