Living Library

Title of the book: Art + Information + Conversation = Social Impact

Ariel uses theater to advance community issues like homelessness, not just talk about them. The issues we care about persist despite all the data on them because data doesn’t move people to action, experiences do. Ariel commissions artists to turn data into entertaining, emotionally engaging plays and pairs them with community conversations over meals and cocktail parties. People leave feeling more connected, knowing and caring more about the issue, and ready to take action. Ariel wants to put artists everywhere to work on their communities’ most pressing needs.

Title of the book: Blue Crab Blues

Kerkennah, Gulf of Gabès, Tunisia… The invasive blue crab is disrupting small-scale fisheries. A symptom of the increasing complexity of migration routes and of the acceleration of environmental changes, its presence draws fishermen, politicians, police officers, economists, and scientists into the controversy—in short, a whole procession of border patrols impossible to map in a sea of metamorphoses. A monitored border zone and a contested resource extraction area, the tunisian island is marked by invisible boundaries that generate strong, albeit underlying, tensions within an island society that is the beneficiary of a rich intangible cultural heritage.

Matthieu Duperrex is philosopher and anthropologist, associate professor at the National School of Architecture of Marseille. Performances, installations, films, photography, multimedia publications, curating ideas, literary narratives… His creations transcend disciplinary boundaries and are always based on field research into anthropized environments and sentinel territories. Granted by the Fulbright Visiting Scholar Program, he works on wetland restoration projects in Louisiana.

Title of the Book: The Other Language

Richard Keatley recounts his lifelong passion for language, literature, and travel, which led him from the corn fields of Ohio to quiet corners at Virginia Tech or at sea on the bridge of the USS Donald B Beary, to the halls of the Institut Français, the Sorbonne, and Yale University.  The story of a physics major turned French PhD, an Ohio rock-and-roller roaming the streets of Naples, a traveler lured by books, curiosity, and a desire for the “otherness” of language.

Richard Keatly is the current Executive Director of the Alliance Francaise d’Atlanta, a nonprofit organization that promotes the French language and French-speaking cultures in Atlanta and its metropolitan area.

Title of the Book: Cities Are Our Climate Classrooms

Cities sit at the center of the climate crisis—but they’re also where the solutions become real. They are our classrooms: places where we can test, refine, and scale the systems needed to heal our planet. By restoring soil, rebuilding biodiversity, and rethinking how we manage land, cities can transform from extractive environments into regenerative ones. What works in a park, a library, or a roadside can ripple outward into a global blueprint. This “living book” explores how everyday urban spaces can lead the way—proving that if we can solve climate challenges where we live, we can solve them anywhere.

Title of the book: Orixálidade: Aṣẹ – Ancestrality – Alchemy

Alexis Peskine graduated from Howard University in 2003 winning the first Verizon HBCU Student Art Competition and was the first foreign student to bring a Fulbright at the M.I.C.A where he completed his MFA. His 2007 exhibition at MOCADA was written up in the New York Times. He exhibited in the 2010 Black Arts World Festival, and at Dakar’t Biennale 2016 leading to a solo show at the French Institute in Senegal. Peskine has participated in residencies, biennales, art fairs and exhibitions in Angola, Brazil, Cameroon, Congo, Ethiopia, Guadeloupe, Italy, Jamaica, Morocco, Senegal and the U.S.A.

Title of the Book: Believe in Magic: Making Life and Art from Intuition

Nydia believes that love is the only thing that will save us. And that if we begin to heal ourselves from the wounds of systemic oppression, childhood/collective/ancestral trauma, and societal conditioning that we can learn to trust ourselves. She believes that who you are is inevitably tied to the way that you understand the world, connect with others, care for each other and the planet. As an artist and educator she guides people through processes of making, looking, and understanding with an emphasis on feeling and developing critical thinking skills.

Nydia Blas works with photography, understanding it as a unique medium that often requires the intervention of a mechanical apparatus that is tied to notions of truth,value and power, with an ability to shape and reshape dominant ideologies. She is continuously expanding the notion of who she is through her travels, meeting people from other countries/cultures, and by unpacking her American lens.

Title of the Book: Enter the Portal: The Body Remembers Before I Do

There is a place before language
where memory is not told, but felt.

This book is a threshold. Through Odyssey in Utero, I invite you into a space where the body is no longer an object, but a living archive layered with memory, rupture, and possibility. A space where ritual becomes a technology for shifting perception, and where the body opens as a portal.

This is not a story you read; it is a space you enter. What emerges is a living archive constantly rewriting itself. And you are already part of it.

Ngnima Sarr, known as T.I.E, is a multifaceted Senegalese artist: singer, poetess, songwriter, and music producer, leading projects like “T.I.E and The Love Process” and “Exillians.” She also created the immersive show “Lâcher L’homme!” inspired by Frantz Fanon’s essay “Black Skin White Masks.” T.I.E’s work is rooted in an Afro-eco-feminist vision, evident in her installation “Mawu’s Daughters,” which premiered in Dakar during Partcours 2022. T.I.E’s ongoing work “Odyssey in Utero ” is a polysemous research object initiated in her residency at Banlieues Bleues, Paris 21-22

Title of the Book: Bullets Show No Mercy to Innocence

I became an adult in 2007, at just 16. Despite my mother’s warning, I brought my phone to school. On March 22, she called during recess—urgent. Fighting was about to erupt in downtown Kinshasa between forces loyal to Kabila and Bemba. Minutes later, gunfire confirmed it. While others fled, we walked toward the violence to get home. Soldiers fired, vehicles sped past, and fear followed every step. I made it back, but some didn’t. My cousin wandered in search of safety. Many children died that day. In the end, those who ordered the violence remained protected, while innocent lives were lost through political calculations made over coffee.

Masela Nkolo is a Congolese multidisciplinary artist based in Atlanta, Georgia. Reclaiming discarded materials such as oil lanterns, screwdrivers, and doors, Masela crafts totemic figures that embody his personal experience through a syncretic interpretation of traditional African art. Growing up during the Congo Civil War, Nkolo’s art powerfully embodies themes of resilience and transformation, drawing from his journey and the rich cultural heritage of the Congo. Influenced by African tribes and modern Congolese masters, Nkolo’s work serves as a vital bridge between past and present, celebrating identity and advocating for peace and social justice.

Title of the Book: The “Your Own Adventure” Life of a Creative Culture Curator 

Bem (pronounced “Bame”, like name) Joiner believes in Atlanta. Born and raised in the city’s West End neighborhood, he has a pure passion for its people and its progress. He majorly contributes to what makes culture in Atlanta, cool and captivating. As a culture curator and co-founder of the civic-minded creative consultancy/brand, Atlanta Influences Everything, Bem has managed and consulted a variety of lifestyle brands and designed meaningful programs for clients like Sprite, Mississippi Dept. of Education, truth.com, Jack Daniels, Nissan, the National Black Arts Festival, The Atlanta Dream, Atlanta United and countless others. He has also booked “early-adopter” shows for Drake, Kendrick Lamar and the Goodie Mob reunion. Bem is also one of the founders of CreativeCall.org which is a community service effort/collaboration between Atlanta and Stockholm creatives and was previously the Community Engagement Coordinator for the Center for Civic Innovation in South Downtown Atlanta. He is a graduate of the Atlanta Regional Commission’s ALMA program in 2015 and RLI in 2019 as well as Leadership Dekalb in 2020. Bem has most recently joined the leadership team at 8 Strains, a cannabis & meta start-up in San Francisco as the Culture & Community lead and is also a member of the Atlanta Civic Collaborative. He is also currently sitting on the boards of 5 non-profits: Oakland Cemetery, Atlanta Way 2.0, The AJ Terrell Foundation, and The Atlanta Land Trust and the Ga. Latino Film Festival as well as the City of Atlanta Arts Taskforce.

Title of the Book: Storytelling is a bridge

Throughout my life, I have crossed invisible bridges beyond space and time. In a childhood ritual dear to me, my mother would tell me stories and legends tied to Congolese culture, and by doing that teleported us to distant lands and made us join both living and dead people. In this discussion, I invite you to sit together and reflect on storytelling as a connecting point between people across differences, storytelling as one of the oldest traditions, storytelling as an act of care towards ourselves and each other.

Armelle Tulunda (born 1994 in Colombes) lives and works in the Paris region. Her work has been presented in venues such as the Mucem (Marseille), the Mulhouse Photo Biennale, Hangar Y (Meudon), the Museum of Fine Arts of Nancy, La Villette (Paris), the CAC – La Synagogue de Delme, and Ugly Duck (London). She received support from the Grand Est Region’s Emerging Visual Arts program in 2021 and 2023, as well as a mobility grant from the Goethe-Institut and the European Union.

Title of the Book: Building Traction for Contemporary Art from the African Continent

In 2020, aKAZI ATL gallery was founded in Atlanta’s Sweet Auburn district under the auspices of the Historic District Development Corporation. It aims to showcase dynamic contemporary art ecospheres from cities across Africa and build traction for African creatives similar to that enjoyed in other cities across the US.

Anja and Jumbe Sebunya collaborate with people whose amazing skill sets make aKAZI a treasured art venue. Recently, in 2025, the Sebunyas and curator Margaret Nagawa elevated interest in contemporary African art through the Insistent Presence exhibition at the Michael C. Carlos Museum and the linked solo show of Mozambican sculptor Goncalo Mabunda at aKAZI. The excellence of African art attracted attention from different constituent groups across Atlanta.

Title of the Book: Rolling

My Uncle Bud was a one-man search engine before the internet had a name. When he told me to take an aptitude test in high school, I said yes, and it said I was a movie producer and director. Turns out, I am — although it took a while to find out and shows up in a different form. The built environment is my medium, and this is my 30-minute live, conversational autobiography with you told through the biographies of buildings, spaces, and places, featuring coffee, lessons learned, history, culture, ups, downs, and a childhood that set the stage for it all. We will talk about how the spaces and places we inhabit shape who we are and who we might become — and how preserving them might just save us too.

Lights. Camera. Action.

Gene Kansas is an Atlanta-based commercial real estate leader known for championing historic preservation, adaptive reuse, and community-focused development. Founder of Gene Kansas | Commercial Real Estate and creator of Constellations, he blends cultural storytelling with innovative urban projects. His work includes saving landmarks like the Atlanta Daily World Building and Clermont Hotel. Recognized with multiple awards, he also hosted Sidewalk Radio, exploring urban life and community. Gene is also the author of “Civil Sights” (UGA Press, 2025), a book chronicling the history of Sweet Auburn in Atlanta, GA, birthplace of Dr. King and the Civil Rights Movement.

Title of the Book: Climate Change & Your Hidden Power

After decades of trying to “do the right thing” for the environment, I began to question why it still felt so hard to make a real difference. Climate Fresk gave me a clearer, more connected way to understand climate change and the power we often don’t realize we have to make a positive impact. In this Living Library conversation, I’ll share what I’ve learned about taking meaningful climate action as a Climate Fresk facilitator, City of Atlanta Sustainability Ambassador, and co-founder of Green in the Gray (launching this summer). I’ll also invite you to reflect on your own experiences of caring for the planet. Together, we’ll explore how the way we understand climate change and our own power shapes what we believe we can do, and how programs like Climate Fresk can help turn that into action.

Shala Nicely is a writer and a therapist specialized in the treatment of OCD and related disorders. She is a facilitator and a volunteer for the Climate Fresk. 

Title of the Book: Reading Cultural Power

Culture is often treated as something atmospheric or symbolic, but increasingly it is functioning as strategy, infrastructure, and power. In this Living Library conversation, I will expand on the themes from my Cultural Signals 2026 insight series, which explores four shifts I see shaping the cultural landscape: Europe courting American cultural capital, developers and hospitality groups hiring cultural strategists, brands building archives, and cultural authority moving from institutions to ecosystems. Together, we’ll discuss how influence is built, why certain people and organizations gain credibility, and how cultural meaning is now being shaped through networks, place, heritage, and lived experience. Participants are invited to reflect on what they are seeing in their own fields and communities, and to consider how cultural power is changing in real time.

Alex Delotch Davis is Executive Director of SCAD FASH Museum of Fashion + Film, where she leads strategic direction, exhibitions, fundraising, and audience development for the museum’s locations in Atlanta and Lacoste, France, as well as SCAD exhibitions in Atlanta. Her career spans leadership roles in the arts, luxury, retail, and civic sectors, including the High Museum of Art, Cadillac, Bloomingdale’s, and the City of Atlanta Mayor’s Office of Cultural Affairs. With more than 15 years of experience at the intersection of art, fashion, and culture, she is known for shaping thoughtful public-facing experiences and building meaningful institutional and cross-sector partnerships.