A poetry reading in conversation with "Captured," an exhibition by Amber Sowards of photographs taken of youth inside the Dane County Juvenile Detention Center in downtown Madison. Featured readers: Dana Maya, T. Banks, Carlos Eduardo Gacharná, and Rockameem Bell.
T Banks is a community organizer, a mental wellness advocate, poet and playwright. After graduating with a degree in English Creative writing, Banks has successfully used his art through plays and poetry to address Racism, Transphobia, and Abelism. As a Black Trans, Queer person with a disability, T believes the movement for Black Lives must be intersectional and deeply connected to the struggle to end Patriarchy, specifically as it manifests as violence against Black Trans folks. His work addresses the need for the Black liberation movement to be accessible to those with mental wellness challenges and / or physical disabilities as well fights for the ability of these populations to regain their autonomy in a capitalistic society.
Carlos Eduardo Gacharná is a Colombian artist and activist based in Madison, Wisconsin. He considers himself a lucky survivor of Madison's massive racial disparity and dedicates his professional life to utilizing this privilege to open doors for those who have yet to find a way forward. Carlos is a PEOPLE Program Scholar and undergraduate student in the University of Wisconsin-Madison's Art Department, as well as the current head of 100arts.
Poet, essayist, editor, and teacher Dana Maya was born and lives in what Américo Paredes called “Greater Mexico”—a space transcending geopolitical, cultural, linguistic, & creative borders. She descends from a line of single Mexican mothers and was educated at Vassar College & the University of Texas at Austin, with an orientation in Chicanx, Queer, & Race Studies. She has taught literature & writing at UT Austin, Madison College, schools, & community organizations. She collaborates with artists on projects for social change, facilitates ekphrastic poetry happenings, & is a member of the Spontaneous Writing Booth Collective. Her poems and essays have garnered awards & appear in anthologies, journals, buses, stages, museums, memorial sites, & other public spaces.
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