We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Shady Radical a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.
Hi Shady, so happy to have you on the platform and I think our readers are in for a treat because you’ve got such an interesting story and so much insight and wisdom. So, let’s start with a topic that is relevant to everyone, regardless of industry etc. What do you do for self-care and how has it impacted you?
Care work is at the center of my practice. I operate on a continuum of care ranging between myself and my community. I try to start my day with dancing with my daughter. She really enjoys moving to a beat and it gets me in the right mood. I then reserve the first 2 hours of the day for doing what makes me happy. This could be catching up with my friends, reading, yoga, jogging, or journaling. I plan to be at my desk by 10am.
Since my work is located at the intersection of trauma, memory, and loss. It is very important that I incorporate experiences through rituals that will balance the energies I encounter and embody. My rituals of care provide a rhythm for moving forward against the strain of emotions that tends to slow progress and productivity.
Appreciate the insights and wisdom. Before we dig deeper and ask you about the skills that matter and more, maybe you can tell our readers about yourself?
I am a black memory worker, a performance archivist, and the founder of The Radical Archive of Preservation (T.R.A.P.). My practice is grounded in ritual, resistance, and movement practices. In my practice, I use exhibition and performance to pull anarchival material out of traditional archives and historical memory in order to activate silences and erasures attributed to forms of subjugation. I also work with organizations to establish their archives. For example, I work with Ballethnic Dance Company in East Point, Georgia and Bwagamoyo Africulture in Tanzania. The vast differences between these two companies and their social contexts requires me to use creative approaches to preservation. I am most passionate about helping people identify what is most important to them and creating ways to center that material in the stories they tell about themselves.
Currently, I am teaching Women in Dance: Sexuality, Sexism, and Subversion at Spelman College. In this class, students explore the archives to find ways women have negotiated pathways to liberation through socially, economically, and politically repressive systems. Working with students in academic settings fuels the research and development phases of my projects.
If you had to pick three qualities that are most important to develop, which three would you say matter most?
Figuring out your balance of humility and confidence. I have struggled with self-esteem issues and an overwhelming desire to help others which consistently made me undersell my services and overextend myself. Finding the perfect balance allows me to feel comfortable with the work that I take on and provides me the necessary space to perform my best.
Knowing peace. Peace comes from within and forging paths to that peaceful place can take work. Once you know how to get back there, you can return there often.
Being self-motivated. Your inner drive will push you when there are no exterior motivations. Having this and being able to use it will help you through the more challenging moments.
One of our goals is to help like-minded folks with similar goals connect and so before we go we want to ask if you are looking to partner or collab with others – and if so, what would make the ideal collaborator or partner?
the radical archive of preservation offers memory-work workshops for individuals and organizations. These workshops highlight the importance of preservation from knowledge production at the level of the body and communities to institutional relationships. These workshops can be used to build archives within communities and companies or to prepare collections to be housed at institutional repositories. I am looking for companies that are interested in building their archives and helping their employees connect to their memories, preserve their legacies, and communicate their stories.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.theradicalarchive.com
- Instagram: @theradicalarchive
- Linkedin:shadyradical.com
