We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Kecia Donnelly a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Kecia, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today Can you talk to us about a project that’s meant a lot to you?

My name is Kecia Felix Donnelly, but you’ll also know me as K Sea Ya, my artistic name. I was born and raised in Brazil and currently live primarily in California. As an interdisciplinary artist with a solid foundation in performance art, I focused on self-investigation and transformation in the social field through conscious individuals. On October 13th, I will be releasing my first single, “Crisálida” or Chrysalis, part of the EP “Cantos para Transições” or Chants for Transitions, with songs written and performed by me available on the principal digital platforms.

This work represents something unique, necessary, and authentic in the panorama of Brazilian popular and world contemporary music.

The single marks the debut of the album release in development since 2023, expected completion in 2025, and a sequence of bi-monthly and semi-annual releases on digital platforms and live performances. I explore rites of passage from an autobiographical and universal perspective in the compositions and in my performance work for the last 12 years. I call for transitioning to “Interbeing” consciousness, which combines insights from deep ecology, living systems, and spiritual practices. Interbeing describes the idea that everything is interconnected and that nothing can exist independently. The EP includes eight singles and audiovisual material – video clips – as well as future performances, and participatory modules called The Liminal Theater. This work is linked to the authorial series ORI (Eight Initiatory Rites) carried out between 2011-2020, and RIAA (Rites of Initiation in the Axial Era) from 2021 to the present, and the practices workshops and online incubator dedicated to artists and community leadership.

At a time when the world is hungry for meaningful content, ‘Chrysalis’ is a song that sprang a call for the integration of human consciousness and the healing of the planet through the individual and its interior. The work is a manifesto for human flourishing to its full Interbeing potential.

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.

Kecia Felix Donnelly (K Sea Ya) was born in Minas Gerais, Brazil, and has lived in California, United States, since 2015.

K Sea Ya is a cross-discipline artist who initiates, facilitates, and designs Artcura Incubator and practices.

She is a facilitator certified by U School for Transformation MIT (Massachussets University of Technology) U-Lab 1x and creator of Artcura and The Liminal Theater practices.

Since 2020, her creative work has flourished alongside multidisciplinary projects involving change and leadership based on consciousness and transformative regenerative capacities, alongside artists and interdisciplinary groups that evolve towards practices based on awareness and education of the interbeing.

​From her autobiographical performance work (2011-2020), EIR or ORI (Eight Rites of Initiation), she has evolved since 2023 to the creation of an unreleased album called Cantos para Transições (Chants for Transitions), where she writes, sings and performs the rites of passage related to interbeing. The series of rites continues with the RIAA Project (2020-present) – Rites of Initiation in the Axial Era, where it conducts and facilitates workshops in a participatory module called The Liminal Theater.
more: https://www.artcura.art/artist

Have you ever had to pivot?

I would say I am an artist who thrives in thresholds of time. There is something about change and liminal spaces where I learn the best, and now I feel I can offer the best of my creative, educational, and imaginative capacities. The pandemic was a tough time for us, individually and collectively. It was also a moment that I realized the main thread of my artwork, practices, and performances. I felt I had been living for this moment; somehow, I had a sense I needed to prepare for a more profound unfolding of time and collective transformation. My personal story built me for that moment; it strengthened my mental capacities and creativity. During the pandemic, I started to write reflections on 12 years of performance work related to Rites of Passage when I also realized this theme was the thread weaving all the pieces and the processes. I was learning how to be a human being, how to understand and sit with my suffering and the world around me, as well as how I could work with the imaginal, giving voice and texture to this inner world, as well as weaving a way out, from my soul to be an agent in the world.

Have any books or other resources had a big impact on you?

I made a list on my website of the most influential books I read and return, that have influenced my life and mission. The list is public but still needs some updates, and you can find it here. https://www.artcura.art/informationresources

In the resume, themes such as deep ecology, perennial philosophy, Buddhism, and integral philosophy are at the top of the list. Also relevant and essential is the poetry that can bring those words alive and embodied by a poet’s experience. Poetry, dance, and music are my most influential forms of art and inspiration for me and the work I am developing. They were the reason, if there is a reason, to start my songwriting and include my voice in it as I enchant and embody the living message and experience I consider to be relevant to be pollinated.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.artcura.art
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/artcura_lab
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/artcuralab/
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kecia-felix-donnelly-8b8a43222/
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@K_Sea_Ya_music/about
• Other: https://www.instagram.com/k_sea_ya/ – most content in Portuguese

Image Credits
1 profile by Edu Rodrigues 2,3,4 (Crisalida) (Cantos para Transições) by Edu Rodrigues 5 ( I am homaker) by Ryan Donnelly 6-7 ( Embryo Lab ) by Sheryland Neal