Press

Dance as Archive

“Museums and history contexts make archives feel boring and stale and not interesting,” Coleman said during the opening night artist talk. “So the artistic part of my brain is like, how do we make them feel more accessible and creative and interesting?”

In her artist statement, Coleman describes the project as an “ode to a Black girl, who knew what it was to play, laugh, dance and the Black woman who held the space.”

Light Play: Using Projection Arts to Reclaim Space

MN Artists Walker Arts Center

“An outlet for my curiosities around liminal space, Afro-pessimism, and many other framings of Black life—especially in Black femme-centered folklore—has been large-scale public projection. My background is in oral history and documentary, and large-scale projection aligned with my intention to showcase Black stories and faces in as large a way as possible. With projections, the idea of taking up space feels important—because Black life, and my perspective on Black femme experiences, have felt restricted, tight, and limiting; in contrast, digital projection as a medium feels expansive and limitless in its representational and placemaking abilities.”                                                                                                                                                                                       - Za’Nia Coleman

“Traditional curation is really rooted in a lot of boundaries and restrictions about how involved a curator can be. And I break a lot of those rules. My intention with curation is more so people's experience with the art as well as the artist's experience being showcased. I look at it in a very hands-on no boundaries. Artists can be curators, curators can be artists. And it's a very reciprocal interaction and it's as much collaboration as you would like in the process.”                                                                                                 - Article by Cathy Wurzer and Gretchen Brown

“Curating space for folks in the community to tell their story – folks that are often unnoticed and unheard – changes the narrative and landscape of our artistic community. Za’Nia does this in multiple ways. One of her most successful projects is Tangible Collective, an organization devoted to millennial Black thought that she co-created with her best friend and collaborator, Ricki Monique. The collective hosts a free monthly open mic night called Tangible Thoughts.”                                                                                                                                - Jasmine McBride