PROCESSA TALKS

In this live episode of Processa Talks, Kiara Cristina Ventura sits down with artist Emmanuel Massillon for a deep conversation on art, culture, and process. Together, they explore Emmanuel’s practice, the stories behind his work, and how his identity and experiences shape his vision as an artist. Later in the episode, they are joined by artist Allen Golder-Carpenter to reflect on the Massillon's performance piece "Cell 72: The Cost of Confinement" at Harlesden High Street Gallery in London, where Allen inhabited the role of an inmate for three days in June 2025.Recorded live at Studio Processa as part of the Processa Social Club series, this conversation unfolds with honesty, laughter, and insight into the realities of navigating the art world as a young Black conceptual artist.About Emmanuel:Emmanuel Massillon (b. 1998, Washington D.C.) is a conceptual artist whose practice spans painting, sculpture, performance, and sound. His work critically examines race, identity, and culture—especially as they relate to people of African descent—drawing from his upbringing in inner-city D.C., his Haitian heritage, and lived experience. Rejecting strictly polished aesthetics, Emmanuel often works with raw, tactile materials — found objects, hand-carved wood, cultural memorabilia, even food products — to evoke history, memory, and material storytelling. His visual language channels influences like Jazz, R&B, Rap, folk art, and street vernacular, creating layered narratives that blur formal boundaries. Emmanuel has exhibited internationally, and his work is held in significant collections including the Baltimore Museum of Art, C21 Museum, The Flint Institute of Arts, and the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts. Connect with Emmanuel: https://www.emmanuel-massillon.com | @massi___------This episode is part of PROCESSA TALKS, a podcast and curatorial series by Processa—a roving platform founded by Kiara Ventura that supports experimental exhibitions, conversations, and collaborations with Black and Brown artists.Learn more and check out our programs at: processa.artSupport the podcast and our physical space: processa.art/donateIntro & outro beat credit. (non-profit): less is more by Mpsta & El J

In this episode, Kiara Cristina Ventura sits down with multidisciplinary artist Kiarita within their debut solo exhibition home[body] at Hausen in Brooklyn to explore the delicate architecture of intimacy and queer eroticism. Set amid hidden paintings and altar-like assemblies inside found vintage furniture, the conversation touches on how safety and “chosen family” is woven through acts of communion. This dialogue delves into sensual textures, concepts around love & relationships, and the ways rest becomes resistance.About Kiarita:Born in Hackensack, NJ (1999) and based in Brooklyn, Kiarita is a Dominican artist working across painting and sculpture. In home[body]—curated by Usen Esiet (March 6 – August  31, 2025)—their “queering of the antique” and lush, tactile painting technique reveal sensuous moments within the found furniture. Inspired by Audre Lorde's "Uses of the Erotic, The Erotic as Power," the exhibition embraces eroticism “as a resource within each of us,” using intimacy and rest as tools of resistance. Kiarita holds a BFA in Visual & Critical Studies from SVA and is currently a Bronx AIM and New York Van Lier Trust Fellow. Their work has been honored by Rema Hort Mann Foundation and the Sylvia Lipson Allen Memorial Fund.Connect with Kiarita:scintillating.space | @sacralrise------This episode is part of PROCESSA TALKS, a podcast and curatorial series by Processa—a roving platform founded by Kiara Ventura that supports experimental exhibitions, conversations, and collaborations with Black and Brown artists.Learn more and check out our programs at: processa.artSupport the podcast and our physical space: processa.art/donateIntro audio credit (non-profit use) : yogic beats

In this episode, Kiara Cristina Ventura sits down with multidisciplinary artist Avila Santo to explore the rituals, rhythms, and revelations behind his evolving creative practice. From ancestral memory to the dream realm, Avila shares insights on his latest work, his connection to the spiritual, and the power of art as portal and provocation. This intimate conversation dives into the textures that shape his world—both seen and unseen.About Avila Santo:Born in Los Angeles in 1991, Avila Santo is a multidisciplinary artist of Afro-Brazilian and Jewish descent working across music, sound, and ritual. A graduate of Berklee College of Music with a B.A. in Professional Music and Latin Percussion, he is also a Capoeira professor and an initiated Awo of Isese Ifa in Nigeria. His work, rooted in rhythm and reverence, explores the intersections of diasporic identity, spirituality, and the natural world. Avila has collaborated with institutions like A24, LACMA, HBO, and Sony Music, and is currently a 2025 Music Resident at Pioneer Works in Brooklyn. (avilasanto.com | @avilasanto )This episode is part of PROCESSA TALKS, a podcast and curatorial series produced by Processa—a roving platform founded by Kiara that supports experimental exhibitions, conversations, and collaborations with Black and Brown artists.Learn more and donate to support our work at processa.art

For this episode of Processa Talks, we have the pleasure of hosting Artist Diana Eusebio and Dr. Omaris Z. Zamora where they discuss Eusebio's solo exhibition, Alchemy: Pigments of Probability, opening at the Art and Culture center in Hollywood, Florida. Alchemy: Pigments of Probability, is a culmination of years of extensive research on the indigenous art of alchemizing plants and natural materials into color. In this specific body of work, she features seven different natural materials native to Miami, Peru, and the Dominican Republic, such as Cochineal, Avocados, Bija (Annatto), Spanish Moss, Indigo, Jagua, and Palo de Campeche (Logwood), often sourcing them directly from the landscape. The imagery in the works is digitally printed onto fabric and combine both archival photos of her past experiences with family and landscape, and imagined photos created with AI to reconstruct images of her family’s history in the Dominican Republic and Peru. Combining traditional practices and modern technologies, Diana explores collective memory processes, constructing familiar archives and textile traditions reflective of her ancestral past and family’s future legacy. The multi-layered process of creating these compelling new pieces is reflective of the complexities of recovering and recording Indigenous and Afro-Caribbean histories. The exhibition brochure includes a text by Dr. Omaris Z. Zamora. -------------- About Diana Eusebio: Diana Eusebio is a Peruvian-Dominican multidisciplinary artist based in Miami. Her artistic practice is centered on color and its cultural significance. She researches natural dyed textiles from Indigenous Latin American and Afro-Caribbean traditions, recognizing their connection to nature and their role as carriers of ancestral wisdom. Eusebio's fusion of ancestral and modern techniques, including dyeing and photography, contributes to contemporary cultural preservation and celebrates the rich heritage and Pre-Columbian knowledge embedded within these communities. Her work is a powerful testament to the enduring cultural tapestry of these regions. IG: @dianaeusebiostudio Website: https://dianaeusebio.com About Dr. Omaris Z. Zamora: Dr. Omaris Z. Zamora is a transnational Black Dominican Studies scholar and spoken-word poet. Her research interests include theorizing AfroLatinidad in the context of race, gender, and sexuality through Afro-diasporic approaches. Her forthcoming book, Cigüapa Unbound: AfroLatina Feminist Epistemologies of Tranceformation examines the transnational Black Dominican narratives put forth in the work of Firelei Baez, Elizabeth Acevedo, Nelly Rosario, Ana Lara, Loida Maritza Pérez, Josefina Baez, Cardi B, and La Bella Chanel. Dr. Zamora pays close attention to how they embody their blackness, produce knowledge, and shift the geographies of black feminism. IG: @trillchi_dominicana ---------------- This interview was recorded by Jason Greenberg. IG: @parallelplay.studio ---------------- Thank you for listening! Follow us on IG @processa.art and for more info visit our website at Processa.art.

Tune into the new season of Processa Talks (formerly known at AW CLASSROOM) with an interview with artist Piero Penizzotto, a Peruvian-American artist born and based in Queens, NY. Penizzotto’s practice consists of creating life-size painted papier-mâché sculptures as an ode to the friendships and communities he is a part of in New York and South Florida. This recording is from an artist talk between Piero Penizzotto and curator and founder of Processa, Kiara Cristina Ventura, on October 14th 2023, at Penizzotto's solo exhibition at White Columns in NYC. In tandem with themes within this exhibition, Penizzotto and Ventura discuss themes of home, belonging, migration, and honoring family history.  You can also watch the video of this interview on White Column's Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1q0TLanPM4I For more info about Processa, visit processa.art .

For this bonus episode officially ending Season 1 of the AW Classroom podcast, curator Kiara Cristina Ventura interviews artist Luis Santana for a discussion around his current solo exhibition, "As Time Stood Still," currently at the Mynt Gallery in Chelsea, NY till February 16th, 2022. Here, they speak about photography work in the NFT world, the process behind Santana's work, and his journey in combining the practices art and photography.    “As Time Stood Still,” curated by Luis Santana and co-curated by Kiara Cristina Ventura, is a NFT photography solo exhibition highlighting the works of artist and documentarian Luis Santana. Taking place at the Mynt Gallery, an experimental NFT Lab and art gallery in Chelsea, the exhibition is Santana’s first NYC solo exhibition and NFT genesis drop.  The show centers around 18 pieces from framed black and white photographs to blue mixed media cyanotype works on paper and canvas that are connected to NFTs online.   Follow Santana's work at: @luissantanaaaa on IG & www.luis-santana.com  * Cover image of Luis Santana by Shravya Kag *   ___________   For more information about “As Time Stood Still” and to view the NFTs:  https://luis-santana.webflow.io   __________   Follow Mynt Gallery at @themyntlab and @CryptoFlowerz IG & Twitter __________   Follow us: @processa.art on IG Website: Processa.art  To support our podcast and the work we do, please donate to us at processa.art and click the "donate" tab. Or join us on patreon! Much love.

For the 20th episode of AW CLASSROOM podcast, we covered the NADA Miami 2021 art fair where we interviewed various artists and galleries about the works they are presenting. In order, we chatted with Danny Baez of Regular Normal Gallery, artist Melissa Joseph, artist Jeffery Meris with Fragment gallery, Dominique Clayton of Dominique Gallery, artist Amber Ahmad with Tone Gallery, Anthony Akinbola with False Flag Gallery, Chela Mitchell of Chela Mitchell Gallery, Graham Wilson of Swivel Gallery, and lastly, artist Vyczie Dorado. social media handles: @digitaldannybaez @regularnormalnyc @melissajoseph_art @jeffreymeris @fragment_gallery @lookatdominique @dominique.gallery @amber.ahmad.art @tonememphis @heyitsbunmi @falseflaggallery @chelamitchellart @chelamitchellgallery @_graham_wilson_ @swivelgallery @vyczie_dorado_art The New Art Dealers Alliance (NADA) is the definitive non-profit arts organization dedicated to the cultivation, support, and advancement of new voices in contemporary art. @newartdealers ___________ Follow us: @artsywindow | artsywindow.com ____ To support our podcast and the work we do, please donate to us at artsywindow.com and click the "donate" tab. Or join us on patreon (@artsywindow) ! Much love

This 19th episode of AW CLASSROOM features an artist talk in tandem with our past August 2021 virtual exhibition, "Cocinando," led by the curator Kiara Cristina Ventura. This episode was recorded in August 2021 & features 4 of the artists included in the show: Cielo Felix Hernandez, Emmanuel Massillon, Estelle Maisonett, and Nicole Bello. Thinking of the kitchen as a space of gathering, cooking, experimenting, connecting and so on, the "Cocinando" exhibition relates the kitchen to the artist studio. Here, we update ourselves on what these NYC based Latinx artists have been experimenting with and cooking up. Speaking on themes of home, identity, and food via the mediums of painting and sculpture, the artists collectively chop up the conversation, raise the temperature, and serve us fresh perspectives. Curated by ARTSYWINDOW. Artist Bios: Nicole Bello is a Dominican-American artist born and raised in the Bronx. She attended Hunter College and received a degree of The Arts, currently she is working on a Visual Arts Masters degree at City College. Her work deals with themes of identity, sexuality, gender, home, self love and power. IG: @nicolebello__ Cielo Felix-Hernandez is a Puerto-rican transdisciplinary artist, primarily working in oil paint, the figures in Felix-Hernandez oil paintings author their own narratives constructed out of familiar Boricua and Caribbean iconographies.Having grown up between both lands, Felix-Hernandez processes their relationship to land, indigeneity, the historical, and the personal and how those themes affect survival. IG: @cielofelixhernandez Emmanuel Massillon (b. 1998 in Washington D.C.) is an African American conceptual artist who works in several different mediums including painting, photography, and sculpture. With these varying mediums, He explores the complex history of race, identity, culture and it's the relation to people of African descent. Massillon's upbringing in the inner city of Washington D.C. shapes the unique narrative that he strives to convey through his work, which is introducing others to new ideas by creating work from day-to-day life to politically charged topics. IG: @massi____ Estelle Maisonett is a Mexican and Puerto-Rican mixed-media interdisciplinary artist that uses found objects, photography, and sourced clothing to create life size collages that document her experience living in NYC. The interior and exterior spaces she builds are collages of photographs, patterns, and archived found objects she has collected. Creating figures void of the human body, she explores how the assumed figures' relationship to consumer products, location, and material inform sociocultural identity. IG: @elle915 ------------ *This episode is wonderfully sponsored by Flower Shop Collective. * Flower Shop Collective is an art and fabrication studio that cultivates the ideas of emerging artists working towards more equitable futures. Their goal is to help artists of all skill levels execute their ideas, learn new techniques and have a safe space to do so, with a prioritization on immigrant artists, artists of color, and women-identifying artists. También les ofrecen todos estos servicios en Español. For more information please head to flowershopcollective.com or @flowershopcollective on Instagram. ___________ Follow us: @artsywindow | artsywindow.com  To support our podcast and the work we do, please donate to us at artsywindow.com and click the "donate" tab. Or join us on patreon (@artsywindow) ! Much love

For the 17th episode of AW CLASSROOM, we virtually sat with artist Khari Johnson Ricks and discussed what it means to have a multidisciplinary practice where one practice informs and supports another. In the interview, Khari speaks to the power of his work and practices being rooted in love, community, relationships, the body, and of course, Jersey Club dance and music.    _________________________   In his own words, here's a bit about artist Khari Johnson Ricks:   "I am an artist and DJ whose work spans a range of audiovisual media and often exists in the public eye. This includes the production of zines, works on paper, performances, murals, and nightlife spaces. I often desire reprieve from the failures of the state and the constant peril black people face. My new work explores fellowship and engages acts of fiction and poetry to capture moments with kith and kin that feel loving. I ask myself what it means to make a family, community, friendship, when the world is so precarious, when the water rises, when death comes, and when all that is visible is capital. While my older work had been in conversation with vernacular movement traditions and martial arts practices like Shotokan Karate and Jersey Club dancing, which act as covert languages for those most targeted for capital extraction, I now explicitly center the fantastical and poetic nature of the Sublime. The works find their dramatic tension in the context of fragility, addressing my subjects’ deep alienation from, and even guilt in the face of, extended moments of peace. In this light, my work become testaments to the irrepressible urge of the imagination to metabolize, to reinvent, and to transcend."  ------------------  Follow his work at: @madebykhari on IG    ___________   *This episode is wonderfully sponsored by Flower Shop Collective. *  Flower Shop Collective is an art and fabrication studio that cultivates the ideas of emerging artists working towards more equitable futures. Their goal is to help artists of all skill levels execute their ideas, learn new techniques and have a safe space to do so, with a prioritization on immigrant artists, artists of color, and women-identifying artists. También les ofrecen todos estos servicios en Español.  For more information please head to flowershopcollective.com or @flowershopcollective on Instagram.  ___________   Follow us: @artsywindow | artsywindow.com  To support our podcast and the work we do, please donate to us at artsywindow.com and click the "donate" tab. Or join us on patreon! Much love

For the 16th episode of AW CLASSROOM, we virtually sat with curator Claire Kim and discussed what it means to navigate the art world with care and intention. In the interview, Kim breaks down highlights from her current exhibition, Un/Common Proximity, which is showing at James Cohan gallery NYC till August 13, 2021. The group show is a result of her recent fellowship with NXTHVN where she worked alongside all the artist residency fellows. More info on this exhibition here: https://www.jamescohan.com/exhibitions/nxthvn Claire Kim is a Korean-American independent curator and arts administrator based in New York City. She was raised in San Diego, California. Kim is currently the Special Assistant to the President at BRIC. She recently completed a 2020 Curatorial Fellowship through NXTHVN. Previously, Kim has worked in museum education and programming with numerous arts institutions and organizations, including the New Museum, the Asian American Arts Alliance, the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, and the Mark Morris Dance Group. She has curated and consulted for exhibitions in spaces such as at BRIC, MoCADA, The Border Project Space, Mom’s Gallery, and Gymnasium. Kim graduated from the Downtown Brooklyn Arts Management Fellowship in August 2018. She received her BA in English and Art History from Fordham University. She is currently pursuing her Masters degree at Bard. Follow her work at: @mediumrareclaire on IG   ___________  *This episode is wonderfully sponsored by Flower Shop Collective. *  Flower Shop Collective is an art and fabrication studio that cultivates the ideas of emerging artists working towards more equitable futures. Their goal is to help artists of all skill levels execute their ideas, learn new techniques and have a safe space to do so, with a prioritization on immigrant artists, artists of color, and women-identifying artists. También les ofrecen todos estos servicios en Español.  For more information please head to flowershopcollective.com or @flowershopcollective on Instagram.  ___________  Follow us: @artsywindow | artsywindow.com  To support our podcast and the work we do, please donate to us at artsywindow.com and click the "donate" tab. Or join us on patreon! Much love