Joy Mariama Smith ~ Keywords: black joy, empathy & agency, pleasure, community, QTBIPOC+, consent, embodiment, identity, movement, relationality, spatial analysis, performance, collaboration

A native Philadelphian currently based in Amsterdam, NL, Joy Mariama Smith’s work primarily addresses the conundrum of projected identities in various contexts. A sub-theme, or ongoing question in their work is: What is the interplay between the body and it’s physical environment? Rooted in socially engaged art practice, they are a performance/installation/movement artist , activist, facilitator, curator and architectural designer. They have a strong improvisational practice spanning 20 years.  When they choose to teach, they actively try to uphold inclusive spaces.

Joy Mariama Smith (1976, United States) is an installation and movement artist, activist, educator, and architectural designer. They* studied at the Dutch Art Institute in Arnhem; the NewSchool of Architecture & Design in San Diego; L'École Internationale de Théâtre Jacques Lecoq in Paris; and Oberlin College in Ohio. Their work has been performed internationally, including at If I Can’t Dance Edition VI – Event and Duration, Amsterdam; SoLow Festival, Philadelphia; Freedom of Movement, Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam; and Ponderosa Movement & Discovery in Stolzenhagen, Germany. Currently, they teach at the School for New Dance Development (SNDO) in Amsterdam, and is a BAK fellow 2019-2020.

*They/them/their: third person singular gender-neutral pronoun.

Joy Mariama Smith's 20 minute presentation Not Dutch: An examination of the abstract relational dynamics of the other, remixed for Maelstrom Slow Dance - DAI's 3 day graduation lectures marathon, June 2017
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