Voices from the Network

Taking Note

Artists Share Their Stories

NPN’s Take Notice Fund has been supporting the creative practice and wellbeing of BIPOC artists in Louisiana since 2021. To bring more visibility to Louisiana’s artists of color, NPN asked past Take Notice Fund awardees to talk with us about their work and careers.

Featured

“I grew up with the parrot, with the sparrow, with the peacock.” An Interview with Take Notice Fund Artist Geeta Dave

An interview with Take Notice Fund grantee Geeta Dave, an artist who incorporates the animals and culture of her childhood in India into her paintings.

Geeta Dave sits with one of her finished murals.

“The work is an archive of my communities, my journeys.” An Interview with Take Notice Fund Artist Melanie Greene

Melanie Greene, a movement-based artist who, through the time-traveling goddess Sapphire, explores the experience and essence of Black women’s bodies.

Melanie Greene performing.

“Write What You Wanna See”: An Interview with Take Notice Fund Artists The West Sisters

Take Notice Fund awardees Chasah West and Charliese West, aka The West Sisters, discuss what attracts them to storytelling and film.

Two young Black women in jeans and sweatshirts sit outside and smile gently at the camera. On the left, Chasah West, wearing a muted pink sweatshirt, sits facing away from the camera with her back against her sister's shoulder and her face turned toward us. On the right, Charliese West, wearing a gold colored sweatshirt, sits cross-legged facingthe camera.

“Preservation Through Storytelling”: An Interview with Take Notice Fund Artist Zandashé Brown

An interview with Take Notice Fund grantee Zandashé Brown, a writer and filmmaker who explores Black experiences in the American South through Southern Gothic storytelling.

“I Kind of See Us as This Ecosystem”: An Interview with Take Notice Fund Artist Juicebox P. Burton

An interview with Take Notice Fund grantee Juicebox P. Burton, a multidisciplinary artist who uses the imagery of the fantastic to safely explore issues of social injustice.

Performer Juicebox P. Burton, visible from the waist up, stands in a dark space, their body illuminated on one side by a cool white light and on the other side by a blue light, and stares intently into the camera. They are unclothed, and tattoos cover their torso, chest, shoulders, and neck. They have blue and silver eye shadow, and the left side of their face has been transformed with prosthetics and makeup into a large, nightmarish circular mouth filled with concentric rows of sharp teeth. Their hair is decorated with what appear to be small silver or white spheres that reflect the light.

“The Medicine Wheel Is Always Central to My Work”: An Interview with Take Notice Fund Artist Ivan Watkins

In this wide-ranging interview, 2023 Take Notice Fund grantee Ivan Watkins talks about the power of color and universal symbols, his disenchantment with the mainstream art world, and his multifaceted exploration of spirituality.

A Black man, Ivan Watkins, poses in an elaborate green feather head-to-toe Black Masking Indian costume.

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