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Welcome to our site and thank you for coming. We are a group of Black artists-activists committed to Black communities. European colonization of Africa, enslavement of Black people, and the ongoing system of white supremacy have caused a number of traumas within our communities including the embrace of dehumanizing, limiting values and myths about manhood and masculinity as well as fears and hostilities toward sexual diversity.

Although there has been progress toward the embrace of Black gay men and lesbian women, people are still very suspicious of Black men on the bi+ spectrum (i.e., bisexual, pansexual, sexually fluid, and/or non-monosexual queer). Myths about Black bi+ men prevail: they are really self-hating gay men; they can’t be monogamous; they never tell their partners that they are bi+; they are responsible for Black women contracting HIV; etc.

Because we are Black men on the bi+ spectrum, we know firsthand the harm these stereotypes have on mental health, family, community, and wellbeing. We’ve created this project to use the arts to build conversations within Black communities that foster greater unity and eliminate biphobia and hostility toward male sexual fluidity. Join us in the conversation.

Here is one of our artists, H. “Herukhuti” Sharif Williams, speaking in more detail about these issues at the 2018 New York City Pride Rally in front of the Stonewall National Park and Monument:

Documentary Film

No Homo | No Hetero: Sexual Fluidity and Manhood in Black America explores the complexities, challenges, and beauty of being Black, bisexual and a man in the United States. Through interviews of cisgender and transgender men and their family, friends, and lovers, performance art, and archival footage, this docupoem invites the audience to experience the politics of living and loving authentically at the contentious intersection of racism, biphobia, and toxic masculinity. The documentary will be released in the summer of 2019.

Continue reading “Documentary Film”

Applied Theatre

Working with Black (cisgender and transgender) men  who are bi+ (i.e., bisexual, pansexual, non-monosexual queer, and sexually fluid) and supporters, we will use applied theatre techniques to create original theatrical performances about their lives and the role of biphobia in them. Applied theatre is a set of theatrical, educational, and organizing models for working with people who are not trained actors in their community, usually not in theaters, to engage in social change or transformation using the creative resources of theatre such as movement, improvisation, storytelling, performance, play, and introspection. We want to present the realities, complexities, and diversity of the experiences of Black bi+ men in the communities in which they live through theatre to create opportunities for acknowledgement, healing, reconciliation, and empathy.

After each performance, we will hold a community forum for audience members to talk the themes of the play as well as the experiences of Black bi+ men in their community.

Visual Artwork

No Homo | No Hetero, neither one or the other, all of the above, or none of the above. Even within contemporary black queer spaces where we might find like hearts, minds, and similar experiences there is still no cookie cutter idea of fluidity to safely slip ourselves into and become. Each current moving at its own pace, its own rhythm. Each of us gotta figure it out for ourselves–an emergent process revealing itself along the way.

The series of 12 mixed-media works, starting with ‘Kabaka 1884 – Present’ (6′ x 4.5′, acrylic / mixed media work on canvas), will explore that journey. Both figurative and non-figurative as well as semi-biographical, each piece will explore the psycho-spiritual and emotional spaces of manhood and masculinity as they inform the self-actualization process of sexually fluid men of African descent. J Christopher Neal’s approach to art making has always been one in which the the ultimate expression of the idea emerges from a lived experience involving hundreds of observations, conversations, choices, decisions, and  research that ultimately become mark making and material choices via an emergent process that allows the image to reveal itself along the way.

Artist Bios

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H. “Herukhuti” Sharif Williams, founder and chief erotics officer of the Center for Culture, Sexuality, and Spirituality, is an applied theatre practitioner, playwright/stage director, documentary filmmaker, and performance artist. He is author of the book, Conjuring Black Funk: Notes on Culture, Sexuality, and Spirituality, Volume 1 and co-editor of Sexuality, Religion, and the Sacred: Bisexual, Pansexual, and Polysexual Perspectives and Recognize: The Voices of Bisexual Men. Follow him on Twitter and Facebook.

 

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David J. Cork, co-founder and chief creative officer of BiUS Entertainment, and  is an actor, screenwriter, director, and producer. He’s the creative force behind Bi: The Webseries. His work has been featured in the Huffington Post, NBC OUT and NowThis News. Follow him on Instagram and Twitter.

 

 

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J. Christopher Neal, founder of FluidBiDesign, is a painter, cultural worker, and educator. His work has been exhibited at Pounder Kone Art Space, GalleryQB, Schefflin-Dozer Art Space, and Band of Vices Gallery. Follow him on Instagram.