MEET THE CREATORS

Still, Release and Liberation

Writer and Director: Bianca Mońa

Sound Artist: Bianca Mońa 

Visual Art Designer and Editor: Amanda Barnes

Bianca Mońa is a lover of the arts. As an artist, curator, educator, and advocate, she has initiated a number of projects at institutions such as Studio Museum in Harlem (New York, NY) and Market Photo Workshop (Johannesburg, SA). All of her artistic endeavors center on a greater understanding of contemporary Africa and her Diaspora. In addition, she is particularly keen on investigative projects that tackle the living history of regular citizens who negotiate grand topics such as gender, heritage, and social-economic placement. As an oral historian and sound artist she had received commissions from The Laundromat Project and Initiatives of Change USA.

Ms. Mońa holds a bachelor’s degree in arts administration from Dillard University, two master’s degrees (art education and interdisciplinary studies) from San Jose State University and Teachers College, Columbia University. In addition to teaching a Black Activism course at St Francis College, she is currently pursuing doctoral studies at the University of the West Indies, CaveHill, Barbados.

Amanda Barnes is an artist, storyteller and visualizer crafting her multimedia capacities into a comprehensive portfolio. The Washington, D.C. native is also a graduate of Virginia Commonwealth University with a bachelors degree in Painting and Print Making. She is a visual artist, graphic designer and photographer who creates original artwork as compelling forms of communication that audiences can experience. Amanda also serves as the Arts Alchemist with Initiatives of Change USA where she is committed to engaging audiences in innovative ways in order to reflect their own activation for change.

In her spare time, Amanda loves to research and learn new techniques and tools of art, design and narrative construction. She enjoys being in creative and passionate communities creating change.