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Art can lead so many interconnected and parallel lives. I once heard someone say there is no difference between the sounds musicians make with their instruments and the movements dancers make with their bodies. The dance is just the music in another form, dance is music incarnate and both give life to each other. No [...]

The wake of the United States government shut-down, is just one instance reminding us that movies about government failings, past and present, remain “current.” Many filmmakers of political cinema have a bigger vision for their art than criticizing a broken system. These artists help audiences connect dots they didn’t recognize before and show the first-hand [...]

BIG thanks to everyone who contributed to Live Unchained’s “Terrifying, Strange & Beautiful” campaign! Your support is priceless. As a donor, you are a part of a growing community of inspiring artists, taste-makers and activists around the world who want to see more diverse artists and conversations in art and media. You also join brands [...]

Listening to Bob Marley’s “Africa Unite” was the first time I felt like a song was holding me in its arms. Motivated by Marley, I learned that many great Reggae artists believed in things like international solidarity, self-mastery, the possibility of a world beyond Babylon; and they honored rebels that resisted slavery, like Nanny of [...]

Like all good journey’s, Paul Sika‘s is full of beautiful people, risk, drama (but not the petty kind) and personal revelations. A multimedia artist, he captures all this complexity in bold, saturated and cinematic images. Paul calls his approach “photomaking” as it bridges photography and filmmaking. Around the world, people are praising this vibrant aesthetic [...]

Art can re-posses. The fact is, there is a time to stand out and do your own thing, especially when the decision makers aren’t including your perspectives and experiences in their media, film and creative outlets. But, there’s also a time to re-write and re-interpret the stories that mis-represent or ignore you, put some stank [...]

Hello Live Unchained world! I’m Kristen, Live Unchained’s Chief Technology Officer. I’m writing to thank you on behalf of the entire Live Unchained team for supporting our crowdfunding campaign with Warsan Shire. While we didn’t reach our financial milestone for the campaign, we learned a great deal along the way, and had a great time [...]

This article originally appeared in GOOD Magazine, March 29th, 2013. Women of African descent have consistently challenged limited understandings of blackness, femininity, sexuality, and nationality. Still—too often—dominant media representations of black women across the African diaspora do not reflect the diversity of our perspectives, experiences, and even nations we come from, and languages we speak. [...]

Maps lie; if they told the truth, the drawings would reflect Jamaica’s greatness. Noted Jamaican poet and cultural activist, Louise Bennett, called out the problem of Western cartography when she wrote: “Worl-map fi stop draw Jamaica small!…For de lickle speck cyaan show we independantness at all!” Building on Bennett’s critique, Dr. Carolyn Cooper‘s most recent [...]

My conversation with J’Nell Jordan reminded me that a woman should never have to hide her power just to make others feel comfortable. J’Nell is the talented painter who contributed an original print of Warsan Shire to our “Terrifying, Strange & Beautiful” crowdfunding campaign. She believes in simply doing what you were meant to do, [...]