Samantha Fox, M. Arch student at Spitzer School of Architecture, interviews Kazembe Balagun, Executive Director of Maysles Documentary Center, on November 8, 2024.
The image paired with this interview is a 2022 illustration (color pencil on paper) titled "Kazembe Balagun, Black Militant Study" by Shellyne Rodriguez. Shellyne Rodriguez is a Bronx-based artist, educator, historian, writer, and community organizer who works in a variety of media, including drawing, painting, collage, and sculpture. Rodriguez stewards the histories and stories of people that have shaped her lived experience, describing her practice as “the depiction and archiving of spaces and subjects engaged in strategies of survival against erasure and subjugation.” Through her multidisciplinary practice, Rodriguez documents the ways in which the diverse social fabric of the South Bronx is rewoven as the people and cultures coexist. Rodriguez utilizes language as well as cultural and sociopolitical references to create unified portraits of individuals from various communities formed in what she describes as the “periphery of empire.” Engaging with the legacy of the Ashcan School, who bore witness to the rise of the modern metropolis and depicted how the poor and working class in New York enclaves were transformed by this, Rodriguez views figures such as Alice Neel, Jane Dickson, and Martin Wong as an extension of this tradition and situates her practice alongside them.
Najha Zigbi-Johnson is a writer, educator, and cultural organizer. Her Harlem-based practice sits at intersections of the built environment, contemporary Black art, and social movement history. She is the editor of "Mapping Malcolm," a publication that brings together artists, transnational community leaders, and scholars who explore the politics of Black space-making.
Mr. Dinkins delivers his parting WLIB broadcast, accompanied by Harlem Cultural Archives chair Glenn Hunter, in a tribute to his late compadre of the Four Horsemen, the Honorable Percy Ellis Sutton. Call-in commentary was provided by Congressman Charles Rangel, and Dr. Roscoe Brown.
While Tapley is most renowned for his 50 career with the Amsterdam News, he was a cultural influencer whose footprint, through pseudonyms and syndication, cast a broad impact throughout the nation.
Art's Conscience is an annual art exhibit highlighting the work of contemporary masters. It is presented by the renowned Mackey sisters of CCNY an presented at the Interchurch Center Gallery. It t is open to the public and seeks to provide a point of entry to the fine art market, for ordinary folks.
The Place, Memory & Culture Incubator (PMCI) at the Spitzer School of Architecture proudly presents Reimagining the Archive: Black Memory as Design Praxis, a three-day symposium exploring how Afro-diasporic memory and cultural practices are reshaping architecture, preservation, and the built environment.
This keynote features Elisheba Wokoma and Inye Wokoma, co-founders of Wa Na Wari, and an introduction and Q&A led by Curry Hackett. The speakers discuss their pioneering work in establishing a cultural hub in Seattle's Central District, demonstrating how grassroots cultural stewardship can actively counter displacement and honor Black heritage.
Wa Na Wari creates space for Black ownership, possibility, & belonging through art, historic preservation, & connection. Sited in a fifth-generation, Black-owned home, Wa Na Wari is an immersive community art project that reclaims Black cultural space and makes a statement about the importance of Black land ownership in gentrified communities through art, historic preservation, and connection. In 2025, Wa Na Wari commissioned “Gilded Porch” installation by former PMCI faculty Curry Hackett, which will be on view.
Elisheba Wokoma’s vision for cultural placemaking drives Wa Na Wari’s growth as a cultural institution. She served as public art manager for the city’s Office of Arts and Culture and founded and operated Faire Gallery and Café before becoming Wa Na Wari’s curator. Elisheba is a conceptual artist heavily influenced by the Fluxus movement. She sees art “taking the role of philosophy in the 21st century” and providing “the frame for discussing and solving our complex and important civic problems.”
Inye Wokoma has been the Guardian of Estate for his grandmother, Goldyne Green, since 2016. He is instrumental in coordinating a site control vision between Wa Na Wari and the Green family, and work with Black homeowners. As a journalist, filmmaker and visual artist, he explores themes of identity, community, history, land, politics and power. His recent projects represent prismatic explorations of the history, current experience, and future of Seattle’s African American Community.
Curry J. Hackett is a transdisciplinary designer, visual artist, and educator exploring Black relationships to land, media, and memory. A Farmville, Virginia native, his work works across scales and mediums to speculate on the aesthetics and ecologies of the American South. Hackett’s work and ideas have been featured widely.
About the Symposium
Reimagining the Archive: Black Memory as Design Praxis was presented by the Place, Memory & Culture Incubator (PMCI) and the Bernard and Anne Spitzer School of Architecture at the City College of New York, in collaboration with the Harlem Place, Memory & Culture Archive (PMCA).
Kazembe Balagun is a writer, cultural critic, and outreach coordinator at the Maysles Documentary Center in Harlem. His work focuses on the intersection of Black radical thought, cinema, and community organizing.
kennedy is a preservation architect, published writer, and guest speaker. She is the founder of wrkSHäp I kiloWatt, a historic preservation, and owner's representation. It is home to Black in Historic Preservation, Beyond Integrity in (X), and (un) Redact the Facts. kennedy has been featured by the Advisory Council of Historic Preservation. kennedy is also the founder of New York architecture firm studio KW Architecture, PLLC.
An esteemed group of Harlemites gathered to celebrate the legacy of the remarkable and Honorable Constance Baker Motley. Constance Baker Motley (September 14, 1921 – September 28, 2005) was an African-American civil rights activist, lawyer, judge, state senator, and Borough President of Manhattan, New YorK
