It is midnight. Get out your kit.

Unfold the cloth. Pull out the chisel. Tap down. Tap further. Hit dirt. Turn over the leaf. Note the pattern. Trace the vine to its source. Where the vine comes out of the ground…

WELCOME TO KUDZU NATION

We are a group of artists banding together in search of the root--a shared place of center and wholeness from which to create, grow together, and make work fit for our communities. We look to the body and the land as the map, and are on a quest to create a civic mythology, grounded in the place we live, that can hold the realities we experience and include the people we are. It is, in a way, a search for our Indigeneity, and we are seekers following the trail of vitality. 

We are dancers, performers, storytellers, time-based artists. As such, we know that each narrative contains many stories and many different tellings within it. We are interested in this wide range, enemies of the mono-myth. Seven people with seven different sets of eyes, seeing out of seven glorious bodies, informed by myriad ethnic lineages and cultural influences, we are busy layering and sifting stories for inspired tellings that can help strengthen and heal us. 

Had we not been in a pandemic, we would have invited you to opening salons in the spring, to introduce ourselves, and bring you into the kitchen where we’re brewing up this tasty sauce. As it is, we are hunkered down, tending to our research, our wellness, and making sure our ship can sail through the choppy waters of this time without losing sight of our north star. We’ve just celebrated one year of consistent weekly practice together so — *yip yip!* —we’re looking like a force to be reckoned with! We are making some guerilla appearances here and there, but otherwise eagerly look forward to opening our doors and sharing our findings when it is appropriate to gather again. 

Kudzu Nation is comprised of seven founding members (from top left): Jessica Bertram, Catherine Messina, Helen Hale, Gavin Bernard, Hez Stalcup, Alejandro Abarca, and Andre Lumpkin.

Here are a couple little looks into the research we’re doing together: