“I feel honored to be in community with Floating Museum and alongside Dr. Burroughs’s legacy as I focus on Black Spiritual Ecologies.“
Cheyenne Wyzzard-Jones (they/she) is interdisciplinary in their work as curator, educator, theatre artist, writer, and researcher. Grounded in Black and Indigenous methodologies of storytelling and research, the breadth of Cheyenne’s work has spanned the fields of transformative justice, reproductive justice, spiritual ecologies, and land sovereignty. Their research explores the impacts of globalization, colonialism, and environmental exploitation on Black, Indigenous, queer, and migrant communities. Cheyenne is currently the Curator of Spiritual is Political, a curatorial studio that produces, examines, and builds contemporary exhibitions alongside contemporary artists and their folks with a vision to popularize at the intersection of art and global politics. Cheyenne has developed a methodology for their practice, Ensemble, which has been weaved into the work of Spiritual is Political.
Their curatorial practice includes collaborations with Independent Curators International, The Luminary, The Front, The Studio Museum in Harlem, Indigenous Curatorial Collective, Ma's House & BIPOC Art Studio, and The Longwood Art Gallery, among others. Their debut script, The Messenger, was commissioned by The 5th Avenue Theatre in 2022 and by The Theatre Offensive from 2023–2025. From 2015 - 2023, Cheyenne served as a founding Director of Women of Color in Solidarity, where they led global advocacy initiatives, public policy campaigns, and annual mutual aid efforts. This work has led to her currently serving as Associate Director of Education at Company One Theatre, and as a City Commissioner for the American Freedmen Commission in Cambridge, MA. Cheyenne holds a B.A in International Development and Social Change from Clark University and a M.A in Comparative and International Education from Teachers College, Columbia University.
Cheyenne Wyzzard-Jones (they/she) is interdisciplinary in their work as curator, educator, theatre artist, writer, and researcher. Grounded in Black and Indigenous methodologies of storytelling and research, the breadth of Cheyenne’s work has spanned the fields of transformative justice, reproductive justice, spiritual ecologies, and land sovereignty. Their research explores the impacts of globalization, colonialism, and environmental exploitation on Black, Indigenous, queer, and migrant communities. Cheyenne is currently the Curator of Spiritual is Political, a curatorial studio that produces, examines, and builds contemporary exhibitions alongside contemporary artists and their folks with a vision to popularize at the intersection of art and global politics. Cheyenne has developed a methodology for their practice, Ensemble, which has been weaved into the work of Spiritual is Political.
Their curatorial practice includes collaborations with Independent Curators International, The Luminary, The Front, The Studio Museum in Harlem, Indigenous Curatorial Collective, Ma's House & BIPOC Art Studio, and The Longwood Art Gallery, among others. Their debut script, The Messenger, was commissioned by The 5th Avenue Theatre in 2022 and by The Theatre Offensive from 2023–2025. From 2015 - 2023, Cheyenne served as a founding Director of Women of Color in Solidarity, where they led global advocacy initiatives, public policy campaigns, and annual mutual aid efforts. This work has led to her currently serving as Associate Director of Education at Company One Theatre, and as a City Commissioner for the American Freedmen Commission in Cambridge, MA. Cheyenne holds a B.A in International Development and Social Change from Clark University and a M.A in Comparative and International Education from Teachers College, Columbia University.
What would you like Floating Museum's community and audience to know about your practice?
My practice of Ensemble is rooted in Theatre of the Oppressed and Black feminist pedagogy, which defines community through shared, embodied research, convening, and trust. I feel honored to be in community with Floating Museum and alongside Dr. Burroughs’s legacy as I focus on Black Spiritual Ecologies. This inquiry examines and imagines contemporary artists’ histories and material practices that explore the preservation and activation of memory as a living, contemporary truth rooted in Black ecological and geographic practices. This work and embodied practice are relational, meaning considering all relations who will be socially, emotionally, and environmentally impacted by what artists, their communities, and I are building. I believe to care about Black life means one should always be thinking about this.
What draws you to this residency and to Chicago? What practices do you hope to be in conversation with?
I would love to focus on how Dr. Burroughs’s artistic, community building, transformative justice practice aligns with my inquiry around Black Spiritual Ecologies (mainly an inquiry in research and exhibition presentation). This inquiry examines and imagines contemporary artists’ histories and material practices that explore the preservation and activation of memory as a living, contemporary truth rooted in Black ecological and geographic practices. I am interested in ways artists, spaces, community partners may also hold this inquiry in their work as well.
My practice of Ensemble is rooted in Theatre of the Oppressed and Black feminist pedagogy, which defines community through shared, embodied research, convening, and trust. I feel honored to be in community with Floating Museum and alongside Dr. Burroughs’s legacy as I focus on Black Spiritual Ecologies. This inquiry examines and imagines contemporary artists’ histories and material practices that explore the preservation and activation of memory as a living, contemporary truth rooted in Black ecological and geographic practices. This work and embodied practice are relational, meaning considering all relations who will be socially, emotionally, and environmentally impacted by what artists, their communities, and I are building. I believe to care about Black life means one should always be thinking about this.
What draws you to this residency and to Chicago? What practices do you hope to be in conversation with?
I would love to focus on how Dr. Burroughs’s artistic, community building, transformative justice practice aligns with my inquiry around Black Spiritual Ecologies (mainly an inquiry in research and exhibition presentation). This inquiry examines and imagines contemporary artists’ histories and material practices that explore the preservation and activation of memory as a living, contemporary truth rooted in Black ecological and geographic practices. I am interested in ways artists, spaces, community partners may also hold this inquiry in their work as well.