I Am M.O.R.E. leader Faiza Jama brilliantly compares life to a game of Jenga. Others are players and can either add to your life to build it up, or take something away and send your whole world crashing down. We also all have labels that get put upon us. "What is the weight of your labels," she asks.
This performance was part of I Am MORE's signature Resiliency in Rhythm event during the 2020 Fertile Ground festival. This expressionistic collection of heARTivism storytelling revealed authentic journeys of young people in the Portland metro area. Their creative language, which included music, video, dance, song, fashion, multimedia art and spoken word, was grounded in the real-life experiences of these racially diverse performers who have moved past the emotional grip of their suffering and shifted into the depth of their possibilities. They each have been empowered to look more critically at the experiences that have shaped them, so that they can begin to walk through the world, not as victims, but as heroes of their own re-imagined story.
For a review of the show, check out https://www.broadwayworld.com/portland/article/BWW-Review-Fertile-Ground-BEETHOVEN-CHOPIN-MEET-THE-BRIDE-OF-FRANKENSTEIN-TEAR-DOWN-THIS-WALL-PORTLANDS-MINI-MUSICAL-FEST-and-VORTEX-1-20200204