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Honoring and congratulating Camae Ayewa and Rasheedah Phillips for their cultural and artistic contributions to Philadelphia and for winning the 2021 Collide residency award from Arts at CERN on behalf of their collective, Black Quantum Futurism.
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WHEREAS, Camae Ayewa and Rasheedah Phillips were announced as winners of the 2021 Collide residency award for their Philadelphia-based collective, Black Quantum Futurism. They will complete a two-month residency at CERN in Geneva, followed by one month at the Hangar Centre for Art Research and Production in Barcelona; and
WHEREAS, Arts at CERN is the arts program of CERN, the European Laboratory for Particle Physics. The Collide residency program was established to create connections between art, science, and technology worldwide; and
WHEREAS, During their residency, Ayewa and Phillips will work with physicists at CERN to produce new artwork based on their proposal entitled “CPT [Charge, Parity, and Time Reversal] Symmetry and Violations.” The project will explore the influence of quantum physics on the human experience with time in everyday reality; and
WHEREAS, Camae Ayewa is a national and international touring musician who has performed at numerous festivals, colleges, and universities, sharing the stage with King Britt, Islam Chipsy, Claudia Rankine, and Bell Hooks; soundscape artist with work featured at Samek Art Museum, Metropolitan Museum of Art Chicago, ICA Philadelphia and Everson Museum of Art; and vocalist in punk band The Mighty Paradocs and free jazz group Irreversible Entanglements. Ayewa is co-founder and organizer of Rockers! Philly, a 10-year long running event series and festival focused on marginalized musicians and artists spanning multiple genres of music. As Moor Mother, her debut album Fetish Bones was named third best album of the year by The Wire magazine. Ayewa is a recipient of the 2016 Leeway Transformation Award, the Kitchen NYC Rising Artists Award 2017, has been an artist in residency at WORM! Rotterdam residency, and featured with Black Quantum Futurism at Transmediale Festival in Berlin; and
WHEREAS, Rasheedah Phillips is a Philadelphia-based housing attorney, parent, interdisciplinary artist, cultural producer, the founder of The AfroFuturist Affair, and a founding member of Metropolarity Queer Speculative Fiction Collective. As a housing justice advocate, Phillips has been recognized with the 2017 National Housing Law Project Housing Justice Award, the 2017 City and State Pennsylvania 40 Under 40 Rising Star Award, the 2018 Temple University Black Law Student Association Alumni Award, and 2019 Barristers Association of Philadelphia Outstanding Young Attorney Award. Phillips is a 2016 graduate of Shriver Center’s Racial Justice Institute, 2018 Atlantic Fellow for Racial Equity, and 2021 PolicyLink Ambassador for Health Equity. As part of BQF Collective and as a solo artist, Phillips has exhibited, presented, been in residence, and performed at Institute of Contemporary Art London, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Philadelphia Museum of Art, Serpentine Gallery, Red Bull Arts, Chicago Architecture Biennial, Akademie Solitude, and more; and
WHEREAS, Ayewa and Phillips created Black Quantum Futurism, a literary and artistic collective, to explore the intersection of Afrofuturism with art and activism in marginalized communities. The Collective also uses various art forms to explore personal, cultural, familial, and communal cycles of experience, focusing its work on the recovery, collection, and preservation of communal memories, histories, and stories; and
WHEREAS, Black Quantum Futurism Collective established the Community Futures Lab in June 2016 as a community hub and workshop space for residents of the Sharswood-Blumberg neighborhood of North Philadelphia; and
WHEREAS, Ayewa and Phillips, as Black Quantum Futurism Collective, have exhibited, installed, and performed their work in Berlin, London, Vancouver, Chicago, Holland, Paris, New York, Miami, and throughout Philadelphia; now, therefore, be it
RESOLVED, BY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF PHILADELPHIA, That it hereby honors Camae Ayewa and Rasheedah Phillips for their cultural and artistic contributions to Philadelphia and congratulates them on the receipt of the 2021 Collide residency award from Arts at CERN.
FURTHER RESOLVED, That Engrossed copies of this resolution be presented to Camae Ayewa and Rasheedah Phillips as evidence of the sincere appreciation and respect of this legislative body.
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