"When Art is Censored" is a panel that not only delves into historical lessons but also sheds light on the current challenges faced by artists who find their voices stifled. Join our distinguished panelists as they navigate the intricate dynamics of censorship in the modern world.
Moderated by Romana Lee-Akiyama
Featured Panelists:
Leila Delicious
Kara Mshinda
and more speakers to be announced!
As part of our mission, all events at Da Vinci Art Alliance are free and open to the public! But, if you have the money to spare, all donations ensure our programming remains free.
ABOUT THE PANELISTS + MODERATOR
Leila Delicious (she/her) is a Palestinian burlesque performer and performance artist based in Philadelphia. Her work exists at the epicenter of queer Palestinian decadence. Leila began her performing career as a political performance artist and sees burlesque as a continuation of that work. Her burlesque work of performing Palestinian past, present and future has now become a ritual of embodied decolonization.
Leila has performed around the country, including as a finalist in the Philadelphia Burlesque Battle Royale Season 10. She has performed in festivals such as Cannonball and Burlesque n Beyond.
Kara Mshinda (she/her) the DVAA Fellowship Director, is a visual artist and educator with roots in photography and visual anthropology. She uses accessible methods like freehand drawing, collage, and lo-fi photography to develop visual narratives that center gender performance, body aesthetics, and Black femme identity. In addition to creating artwork, Mshinda is a professor at Tyler School of Art and Architecture where she teaches on the themes of race, identity, and artist practice in American art. She received her MA in Anthropology from Temple University.
Romana Lee-Akiyama is the founding director and curator of the Chen Lok Lee Legacy Project, which she founded in March 2021 as a homage to her late father Chen Lok Lee, a pioneering Asian immigrant artist, printmaker, and professor. While growing up with two artists as parents, Romana was discouraged from pursuing a career in the arts. She instead established herself as a leader in social work, the nonprofit, philanthropic and public sectors. She currently serves as the executive director of the Mayor's Office of Public Engagement with the City of Philadelphia. At this juncture in her career, she is leaning into her emerging skills in curation, and plans to expand her portfolio to include additional underrepresented Asian/Asian American artists. Since launching the Chen Lok Lee Legacy Project, Romana has curated two exhibits in Philadelphia, and each has included community sessions focusing on themes of immigration, belonging, anti-Asian hate and violence, and what it means to create “home” for marginalized populations. With support from the Sachs Program for Arts Innovation at the University of Pennsylvania in 2021 - 2023, Romana recently curated EXCLUDED/INCLUSION which just closed at Penn’s Annenberg Center on May 31, 2023. The exhibit is currently showing at Friends Select School in Center City, Philadelphia.