{"version":1,"type":"rich","provider_name":"Libsyn","provider_url":"https:\/\/www.libsyn.com","height":90,"width":600,"title":"Denali J\u00f6el on fashion as an art praxis rooted in Afro-Indigenous philosophies, interrogating the emphasis placed on the *industry* & reminding us of the possibility of creating new ecosystems","description":"In episode 312, Kestrel welcomes Denali J\u00f6el, a non-binary Multidisciplinary Artist, Designer, Educator and Fashion Griot, to the show. Born and raised in Kingston, Jamaica, Denali has been an asylee living in the US since 2014, recently obtaining their U.S. citizenship this year. Their art praxis intersects design, performance, media and community engagement with particular focus on queer identities and Afro-diasporan histories, futures, collective healing, and radical imagination.  \u201cIt comes back to us as an individual but also as a collective to recognize that we need to shift our own relationship to fashion and with fashion as a tool for the ways in which that we show up, the ways in which we disrupt our own oppression. I think we place so much emphasis on calling out and asking industry to do better and I\u2019m just like \u2014 the industry is actually operating the way it\u2019s supposed to, like it was built. Again, when you think about whose imagination we are living in, that is the imagination. And so, when we force folks to shift, are we just bullying them into performing a version of change or is it possible that we could create new ecosystems within our own selves \u2014 and using the resources available to us \u2014 but creating that shift and slowly moving away from industry and start thinking more about ecosystems.\u201d -Denali This is THE FINAL EPISODE of Season 6. Launched in February of 2022, this season has taken us on a journey \u2013 and here we are, arriving at the 52nd episode of this era of Conscious Chatter. Over the last two years on the show, we have questioned so much of how the fashion industry operates, and really dove into unique ways that individuals, companies and initiatives are working to basically unlearn *the way fashion has been done* and relearn new ways of reimagining its future.  This final episode of the season feels really important to me \u2013 as it\u2019s the last show that will be oriented in this way. As Nat and I have teased a bit here and there, we have a fresh approach to Conscious Chatter coming to you with Season 7. :) But with this immense feeling of wanting to culminate Season 6 in an extra meaningful and circular way, I sat and questioned for quite some time who could provide that sort of grounding presence. When I thought of this week\u2019s guest, I felt instantly at ease and an all-encompassing feeling of warmth and hope surrounded me. They were the person that could help us close out this season. It may sound a bit airy fairy, but this episode feels like a massive hug to me \u2013 I hope you feel it too. In today\u2019s world, we hear the word INTENTIONAL thrown around a lot. It\u2019s one of those words that has taken hold in recent years and become a go-to. While we see its use on a consistent basis, I\u2019m not entirely sure whether we\u2019re seeing its meaning carried out in practice. What is the definition of INTENTIONAL? According to Dictionary.com, it is defined as: done with intention or on purpose. In order to do something with intention, there is almost undoubtedly a need to slow down and become more present and tuned into that process. As we know, slowing down is not really something the systems around us are advocating for.  But that doesn\u2019t mean there aren\u2019t folks out there truly taking the meaning of intentionality to heart and very thoughtfully putting it into practice.  I say it in our chat, but I\u2019ll say it again \u2013 this week\u2019s guest takes intentionality to the extreme, in the most beautiful way. They also consistently resist the systems around us by working to reimagine their own approaches and value indicators outside of the vacuum as much as possible. For example, they approach fashion and costume design as an art praxis that is rooted in intentionality, sustainability and social equity, and that is guided by three Afro-Indigenous philosophies.  Instead of commodifying it, they have and continue to use fashion as a tool to slowly further discover themself. But what I love about how they communicate is they are not only talking about themself as an individual, but also being a Black Queer person, they are telling stories as a part of a larger community of intersections, brimming with collective histories, present circumstances and collective futures. Quotes & links from the conversation: \u201cThe more I matured, the more I realized that external validation was very fickle and fleeting. And so, it came now to \u2014 when I look in the mirror, do the clothes that I wear, does my appearance uplift and reverence the divine feminine and the divine masculine that lives within me?\u201d -Denali (25:07) \u201cBecause of me and my own intersections, the work that I do is constantly in conversation with who I am and my positionality in society \u2014 the areas within which I feel marginalized and also the areas within which I feel liberated. And so, I want to ensure that I\u2019m making space for that and holding the past, the present, and the future within me. And so, being a griot is essentially that \u2014 it\u2019s acting as an archive, as a vanguard of sorts, you know protecting and advancing the stories of who I am as an individual but also as a collective body \u2014 centering and amplifying the Black femme, shifting the balance to us recognizing that Queer folks, especially those at the intersection of being Black and Queer are diviners historically \u2014 reclaiming all of that. And so, being a griot was important to me because like you said, I\u2019m a storyteller and I think it hit me when I realized the vicissitudes I\u2019ve had to survive in my life are to kind of give me and provide me with all of these stories \u2014 these stories that again, through the Ubuntu principle are not just for me, but they\u2019re for the collective, they\u2019re for everyone.\u201d -Denali (31:52) \u201cParable Of The Sower\u201d, book by Octavia E. Butler that Denali references connected to their upcoming project in collaboration with The New Children\u2019s Museum in San Diego, CA \u201cI think we talk a lot about diversity, equity and inclusion, but we don\u2019t talk about belonging. And belonging invites us to think holistically about the space \u2014 tactile \u2014 what does it feel like? What does it smell like? What does it taste like even when we enter the space, and is it familiar to those of us who have always felt as though we\u2019ve existed outside of these spaces?\u201d -Denali (44:53) \u201cSongs Of The Gullah\u201d \u2014 a fashion film by Denali Denali\u2019s Website Follow Studio Asa > Follow Denali on Instagram > ","author_name":"Conscious Chatter","author_url":"http:\/\/consciouschatter.com\/","html":"