A Deeper Look
AZARIA G.
Azaria G. is a curious and interdisciplinary performance and visual artist with her Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in dance performance and choreography from the University of North Carolina at Greensboro. Born January 21, 2000 in Charlotte, North Carolina she was raised cross culturally, experiencing Jamaican heritage and tradition in addition to her Black cultural upbringing.
With focus in dance, she has curated original screen dance works Sexual Revolution (2021) and Find Your Wings (2022) as well as her staged work Lovely and Ghetto (2022), each involving her interest in intersectional experiences and the embodiment of perspective, history and expression. Azaria G. explores the intersections between black and Caribbean culture, the concept of magic, and the practices of agency. Thus far she has collaborated with Theatre of Movement founder Duane Cyrus and UNCG alumna Faith Brown for dance research and media-based works.
Azaria G. is also a complex visual artist with themes focused on surrealism, storytelling, spirituality and magic in the black body, and color theory. Through the practice of catharsis and improvisation, Azaria G. creates stunning visual works often influenced by social commentary and activism based on her lived experiences. Having conducted research under facilitator and mentor Duane Cyrus, Azaria G. has participated in several Evenings with the Creative Class, as well as presenting her interdisciplinary work in progress titled Find Your Wings at the Southeastern Center of Contemporary Arts (SECCA) during the exhibition Black@Intersection curated by Duane Cyrus.
Azaria G. has also led initiatives at the Weatherspoon Art Museum during her internship for the Lorraine O’Grady retrospective titled Both/And (2022) involving student engagement. During this time, she managed projects such as the Both/And Bulletin Boards Project as well as being heavily involved in the creative process of promoting and showcasing the retrospective in an innovative way involving both social art and dance. Azaria G. led the design and installation processes during this internship and continues to pursue social art and activism.
Azaria G. Interview
May 28th- May 29th 2022
LOVELY AND GHETTO
Lovely and Ghetto is an original choreographic work by Azaria G. exploring the summation of the self by relating parts of a whole. This work personifies the contradicting and complementary experiences of choreographer Azaria G. by questioning and identifying characteristics and habits developed over time, and how they can all be embodied at once.
January 2020 - Current
UNDERGRADUATE STUDENT RESEARCH IN DANCE
Through intimate and embodied study of Harriet Jacobs, Azaria G. continues to further define and make available the practices of agency and activism. By discussing intersectionality, oppression, the contributions of black historical women figures, alongside the physicality of the black experience, Azaria G. presents her ideas and revelations involving the path to autonomy for herself using multifaceted approaches. This research began under the facilitation of Duane Cyrus and is a continuing collaboration with Theatre of Movement.
June 2020 - December 2020
EVENING WITH THE CREATIVE CLASS
Presenting and performing original art/dance works alongside my student research on the lack of acknowledgment surrounding black women lynchings and erasure of their contributions throughout the civil rights movement and current activist era.
October 2020 - January 2021
SEXUAL REVOLUTION
Sexual Revolution is a dance work about the subjective ideas around the embodiment of "sexy", as one would define it for themself. This work was to display an honest depiction of how a black woman may embody her own ideas of sexiness. Choreographed and directed by Azaria G. in collaboration with videographer and editor Faith Brown. (@faithful.lenses on Instagram)
August 2021 - May 2022
LORRAINE O'GRADY INTERNSHIP
Azaria G. held a leadership role at the Weatherspoon Art Museum in project design and management to promote student engagement at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro through methods of movement and social art concepts and practices in relation to art museum spaces for Lorraine O’Grady retrospective Both/And exhibition borrowed from the Brooklyn Museum.