Artists' Statements: IJPS volume 11, issue 1

Abstract

View the art/music Ani Ganzala and Taya Mâ Shere first met in an artists’ commune on the sacred shores of Bahia, Brazil, and have remained close friends ever since. Their creative work is rooted in ancestral dreaming, earth reverence, and spiritual activism. The curation of Ani’s visual art with Taya’s music in this journal was sparked by their recent retreat time together. Ani’s two pieces featured here are: “Aruanda,” (this issue's cover art) which highlights the relationship between the Black Diaspora and botanical technologies for physical and spiritual healing; and “No mundo aquático dos peixes e réptais, nós sonhamos / In the aquatic world of fish and reptiles, we dream,” which depicts physical and spiritual connection through black and queer love. Taya Mâ’s music is deeply rooted in her ritual and spiritual practice. Her piece featured here, “solidarity,” is a love song for liberation, an invocation of interdependence, and a call for collective care across realms.

Keywords

• Ancestral dreaming
• Earth reverence
• Spiritual activism
• Black diaspora
• Queer love
• Ritual music