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 .