Hey everyone. I hope you are doing well and staying safe. I don't have too much news to share these days. It seems like this whole virus situation is here to stay and I am uncertain I will be able to return to China anytime soon for work. If the EU is refusing travelers from the US, I would assume China to do the same, and for good reason. But I don't have too much to complain about as I have a roof over my head in a rural area that is OK for now in terms of ou breaks. I have been thinking more about the future direction I want to take this podcast as I normally have been interviewing friends and others I have met in person, but with the current situation, I have been thinking about expanding out. Of course, I am a bit nervous about moving forward this way. I have a number of interviews I still need to release before this happens, but the time will come soon enough. It may be for the better for this podcast. In any case, for today, I am interviewing Didier William. Originally from Port-au-prince Haiti, Didier moved to Miami as a Creole-speaking 6-year old. His interests in art blossomed there and he went on to earn his BFA in painting from The Maryland Institute College of Art and an MFA in Painting and Printmaking from Yale University. Currently, Didier is Assistant Professor of Expanded Print at Mason Gross School of the Arts at Rutgers University. I first met Didier while I was at a residency in Vermont this past winter and was able to interview him around March, just as COVID's presence began being felt in the US and prior to the recent protests around the murders of George Floyd, Ahmaud Arbery, Breonna Taylor, Tony McDade, and many others that have surfaced with each passing week. I've been thinking a lot about how I release my episodes weeks, months, and sometimes years after the initial interview and what it means in terms of relevancy. It is something I need to figure out. Anyway, for this interview, Didier and I chat about trying to find agency in stillness, the concious privileging of certain languages, and maintaining an honest conversation about social complexities. Again, stay safe, stay healthy, and I hope you enjoy this.
Hey everyone. I hope you are doing well and staying safe. I don't have too much news to share these days. It seems like this whole virus situation is here to stay and I am uncertain I will be able to return to China anytime soon for work. If the EU is refusing travelers from the US, I would assume China to do the same, and for good reason. But I don't have too much to complain about as I have a roof over my head in a rural area that is OK for now in terms of ou breaks. I have been thinking more about the future direction I want to take this podcast as I normally have been interviewing friends and others I have met in person, but with the current situation, I have been thinking about expanding out. Of course, I am a bit nervous about moving forward this way. I have a number of interviews I still need to release before this happens, but the time will come soon enough. It may be for the better for this podcast.
In any case, for today, I am interviewing Didier William. Originally from Port-au-prince Haiti, Didier moved to Miami as a Creole-speaking 6-year old. His interests in art blossomed there and he went on to earn his BFA in painting from The Maryland Institute College of Art and an MFA in Painting and Printmaking from Yale University. Currently, Didier is Assistant Professor of Expanded Print at Mason Gross School of the Arts at Rutgers University. I first met Didier while I was at a residency in Vermont this past winter and was able to interview him around March, just as COVID's presence began being felt in the US and prior to the recent protests around the murders of George Floyd, Ahmaud Arbery, Breonna Taylor, Tony McDade, and many others that have surfaced with each passing week. I've been thinking a lot about how I release my episodes weeks, months, and sometimes years after the initial interview and what it means in terms of relevancy. It is something I need to figure out. Anyway, for this interview, Didier and I chat about trying to find agency in stillness, the concious privileging of certain languages, and maintaining an honest conversation about social complexities. Again, stay safe, stay healthy, and I hope you enjoy this.
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