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Some behind-the-scenes photos I took and edits I’ve made of my Mom, Claire, as we filmed for her spoken word performance pieces. The first photo shows some African-inspired Caribbean masks she made in the 90s. See the full performance pieces in the documentary I made about my Mom’s cancer journey, “A 50% Chance of Paralysis: Get Ahead of Life Before Life Gets Ahead of You!” featured in our virtual film event, “Art & Mind: I Know Who I Am! Journeys of Women of Color & Femme-Expressing Creatives.”

As we developed these performances to tell her story of how she went against the odds, I couldn’t believe the immense progress my Mom has made with her recovery. You’d have no idea she spent eight weeks last year in a neck and torso brace (equivalent to a car crash brace), needed help bathing, or was in a wheelchair and using a rollator for a few months. Many nurses who saw her medical chart said it looked like a disaster - like someone near paralyzed. However, when they met her, they couldn’t believe how vibrant, determined, and motivated my Mom was. She took her first steps five days after her first chemo, two months after high-risk spinal surgery. Her chemo started two days after getting approved to take her brace off. 

Please support this mother-daughter film and our team of creatives that made this possible! We hope to see you there!

- Amaranthia & Claire

WE JUST REACHED OVER $1K!!! Thank you to everyone who’s signed up so far for “Art & Mind: I Know Who I Am!” (over 40 attendees) and for helping us create these grants for BIWOC and femme-expressing creatives of color! We are in awe of all the support received this year - we’re almost at 800 followers on IG, have met so many wonderful creatives, activists, disabled folks and fellow ‘still coviding’ peeps. And we’ve received our first ever grants and sponsorships for SCR/Art & Mind.

As many know, it is difficult for Black people, especially Black women, to receive any kind of funding for a project. Business Insider reports that companies led by Black women usually receive less than 1% of all venture capital funding. Although we’re not an LLC just yet, but plan to become one next year, this has been a harrowing thing to learn. We’ve had to fight to be taken seriously, especially as Black disabled women with such an experimental project.

So from the bottom of our hearts - thank you, thank you, thank you! We are still accepting donations since the more we can give out to artists, the better! And we hope to reach over 50 attendees!

🌻Stay Safe & Protected In Your Brilliant Light!🌻
- Amaranthia & Claire
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Thank you again for the phenomenal support and donations for our Sistas Uprising Fund, and for all the sign ups! We’re at 40 attendees now! Right before I was about to send this we got a donation of $200 which brought us from 71% to 91% of our goal! Thank you so so much! This means $88 to go! We are two weeks and two days away from the event, we really hope we can reach $1k within that time period! Help us spread the word so we can reach our goal!

We are also happy to announce that we are recipients of The Puffin Foundation 2023 grant ($1,500!) With this funding, we’ll be able to get a MacBook Pro to help us create more content for future events.

Looking forward to seeing you at Art & Mind!

Amaranthia Sepia & Claire Jones