Dialogue Forum: Identity and Dissent with Patrisse Cullors and Alice Sheppard

Patrisse Cullors

Patrisse Cullors is a New York Times bestselling author, educator, artist, and abolitionist from Los Angeles, CA. Co-founder of the #BlackLivesMatter hashtag and co-founder and former Executive Director of the Black Lives Matter Global Network Foundation, Patrisse has been on the frontlines of abolitionist organizing for 20 years. TIME 100 also named Patrisse as one of the 100 most influential people. Patrisse has led multiple Los Angeles-based organizations, including Dignity and Power Now, Justice LA, and Reform LA Jails. These organizations have won progressive ballot measures, fought and won against a $3.5 billion jail plan, and implemented the first-ever Civilian Oversight Commission of the Los Angeles Sheriff's Department. Patrisse is also the faculty director of Arizona's Prescott College, a new Social and Environmental Arts Practice MFA program, which she developed nesting a curriculum focused on the intersection of art, social justice, and community organizing that is the first of its kind in the nation. In December 2021, Patrisse will receive the ACLU Bill of Rights Award for her outstanding work in activism and civil liberty.

As an artist and abolitionist, Patrisse combined these two passions in early February 2020 when she teamed up with Noé Olivas and Alexandre Dorriz to serve as Co-Founder and Creative Director of the Crenshaw Dairy Mart, a reimagined art gallery and studio dedicated to shifting the trauma-induced conditions of poverty and economic injustice, bridging cultural work and advocacy, and investigating ancestries through the lens of Inglewood and its community. In May 2021, Crenshaw Dairy Mart installed their abolitionist pod at MOCA's Geffen Contemporary, which serves as their first prototype designed in an effort to create community gardening and collective gathering spaces across the city of Los Angeles. Most recently, Patrisse debuted her “Harriet” art installation that permanently lives at the Second Home West Hollywood campus. The piece is inspired by a Harriet Tubman quote she referenced from the Bible - 'I go to prepare a place for you' - and intends to remind us to be in a relationship with our freedom and healing. Patrisse has also brought the intersection of art and abolition together through her performance art, organizing “F*ck White Supremacy, Let's Get Free,” bringing the community together to rejuvenate, regenerate, and refocus through dance and movement. This duration performance has been showcased at Frieze LA 2020 and virtually in collaboration with the Hammer Museum in 2021. In September 2021, the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors unanimously approved Patrisse's appointment to serve as one of three Second District Arts Commissioners.

In addition to Patrisse's combination of art and abolition, Patrisse has brought her incredible work to the screen as a former staff writer on Freeform's Good Trouble series as well as an actress on the show, and also co-produced the 12-part YouTube Originals series titled RESIST. In 2020, Patrisse signed an overall production deal with Warner Brothers, where she intends to continue to uplift Black stories, talent, and creators that are transforming the world of art and culture. Most recently, Patrisse served as an Executive Producer on the HBO MAX documentary Eyes on the Prize: Hallowed Ground.