About the artist:
Self Portrait,, Photography 2022
The black artist is dangerous. Black art controls the 'Negro's' reality, negates negative influences, and creates positive images.
Sonia Sanchez
Cassandre Charles, a native Bostonian, is an interdisciplinary embodiment and visual artist. Cassandre is the founder of United Colors Burlesque, a BIPOC focused performing arts show. She is also the founder of The Black Arts Sanctuary, an archiving through arts initiative that celebrates the contributions of artists, advocates and educators of the African Diaspora to historical American experiences.
Cassandre is a company member of Backpocket Dancers, the Lipstick Criminals and Slaughterhouse Society. She is a collaborating artist with Monkeyhouse and Luminarium Dance Theater. She is a curator and member of the Observation/Transformation cohort, with exhibitions at the Mass Art Art Museum, Boston MA, and FiveMyles in Brooklyn NY. The cohort has recently accepted a residency with the Nearby Gallery, Newton MA.
Cassandre is an artist-at-residence at ArtsAssembled Studio, Somerville MA and Rocco Ricci Studio, Allston MA. As a member of the Boston Dance Alliance Dance & Disability Cohort, Cassandre meets with members to discuss, plan and execute programs and initiatives that help in accessible experiences for dancers with visible and invisible disabilities.
Cassandre’s credits include producing, directing, performing, and facilitating dance and youth theater workshops. She has over 20 years of experience in technical theater and before becoming a full time working artist, worked in marketing communications for the corporate sector. Her combined years of experience includes work for American Repertory Theater, Wang Center for the Arts, The Dance Complex, Central Square Theater, Riverside Theatreworks and Sommerville Square Theater.
Cassandre is an artist-at-residence at ArtsAssembled Studio, Somerville MA and Rocco Ricci Studio, Allston MA. As a member of the Boston Dance Alliance Dance & Disability Cohort, who discuss, plan and execute initiatives that help in accessible experiences for dancers with visible and invisible disabilities.
Cassandre has recently completed her 2nd fellowship with Danza Organica's We Create Festival, in Boston and Somerville MA. She continues to build work and collaborate with local artists of varying genres for her upcoming projects.
Upcoming Events:
Shadow Shapes, Self Portrait, Street Art, 2017, Marker, acrylic
SATURDAY, JULY 30th, 2022
Arts Assembled Performing Arts Center
Artist Statement: Representation for Black artists is still scarce. The words that 'diversity and inclusion' are hot key-words for institutions, but how do the decisions to include our contributions to American art history happen if we do not share ourselves? Retracing traditional and contemporary methods to display my own portraits both created by my hands and other artists' is exhausting and exhilarating. The decision to be the only subject came when I finally felt that I was grounded enough in my physical and mental health to process, make and exhibit works that reflect my consciousness of scale and size of defining moments in my own life that are on the table for discussion and archiving.