We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Kera Gibbs. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Kera below.
Kera, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. We’d love to hear about a project that you’ve worked on that’s meant a lot to you.
The most meaningful project I have done in my movement, art journey, has been the art collective of Chronic Presents. It has been a passion project of mine for the past few years relating to dancers and movement artist that live alongside chronic illness and accessibility needs. This became something so obvious and relevant in my community because there’s a lack of visibility and platforming of nonconventional dancers. BIPOC and LGBTQIA folks especially suffer under the weight of preference and conventionality. As a person that struggles with chronic illness, and is a passionate dancer, it was so important for me to find a space where I felt like I could belong and thrive. Unfortunately, I could not find that space in my community so, I decided to create something where we could be.
As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?
I am a girl from a small town and a small city that moved to Philadelphia out of college in 2015. I am an avid gardener and passionate community member. I support garden organizations across the city and work for the an amazing organization that supports small and large communities. I love to dance, cook and laugh mouth wide open with friends on a regular basis. Dance has been my joy these past few years. Sharing my journey with others who share a similar path is inspiring. I started to celebrate dancers of all backgrounds and create a space where we can explore be creative and find happiness within ourselves. The point of the work I do is to create access and visibility for the people that I hire. I am incredibly proud of the work that we’ve done hosting over four events throughout the city and showcasing various vendors, collaborators, and partners. The events that I host are two fold, featuring local vendors and resource businesses, as well as movement showcases. Underneath the beauty of the events that I host, there is a strongly knitted fabric of support and resource. It’s important we come together over the problems that face our communities. Then do what we can as a group to add relief.
For you, what’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative?
Creating opportunities. I am so totally overwhelmed by how connected people become and the friendships that develop out of this work. If I never dance again in my life, I have gained some of the most important relationships and perspectives on myself. I’m surrounded by dreamers and people who look at the world outside of how it’s built. How often do you come in contact with people who can expand on a dream without the confines of capitalist reality?
Is there something you think non-creatives will struggle to understand about your journey as a creative? Maybe you can provide some insight – you never know who might benefit from the enlightenment.
I think a really good thing to keep in mind if you were someone who is in the spectrum of “non-creative “is to understand how important expansion is. Everything we see and enjoy in life is because of art. The aesthetics of your building, the interface of your phone, how our animals look…everything is designed to give us a sense of pleasure or satisfaction. Without those things life would lose its function and form. It’s through an artist eye that the world changes, visualizing our universe beyond what we see now.
Contact Info:
- Instagram: @a_Kaleidoscopedream , @chronicpresents
Image Credits
JoLeah – https://www.instagram.com/joleahalarke?igsh=MTB1cDI4c3hqY2xxZQ==
Brandon –
https://www.instagram.com/suavesoldier?igsh=amh4aTloNXk1MDVq