T H E B L AC K VO I C E X M O DA P R E S E N T
FORMLESS SPRING 2022
credits page
T H E B L AC K VO I C E X M O DA P R E S E N T
FORMLESS FORMLESS CO-DIRECTORS Henry Ptacek, WUDPAC Director Kaden Buck, WUDPAC Assistant Director Hannah Bruder, WUDPAC Assistant Director Samantha Starks, Moda Creative Director Madelyn Vilker, Moda Videography Director and Social Justice Hub Intern Sonakshi Garr, Moda Diversity and Inclusion Co-Director Abigail Perkins, Moda Diversity and Inclusion Co-Director and The Black Voice Financial Chair SOCIAL JUSTICE HUB CONTRIBUTORS Naomi Bergena, Social Justice Hub Intern MODA IS PRODUCED WITH SUPPORT FROM THE WISCONSIN UNION AND THE WISCONSIN UNION DIRECTORATE PUBLICATIONS COMMITTEE.
LAYOUT DESIGN Jessica Tenenbaum, Moda Staff Graphic Artist
THE BLACK VOICE CONTRIBUTORS Robin Robinson, The Black Voice Managing Editor Brooke Messaye, The Black Voice Copy Editor Lauryn Azu, The Black Voice Editor-in-Chief Tatiyana Benson, The Black Voice Programming Coordinator Tamia Fowlkes, The Black Voice Social Media Director PHOTOGRAPHERS Jami Balicki, Moda Staff Photographer Emma Spaciel, Moda Staff Photographer Claudia Chan, Moda Contributing Photographer
Hi everyone, Thanks for checking out our first zine, Formless. It is truly an honor to be in collaboration with other creative people and organizations at the University of Wisconsin–Madison in the spirit of artivism. So, what does it mean to be formless? You could think outof-the-box, bold, courageous. It takes real guts to get on a dark stage and face dozens of your peers — to hype up a crowd with a surgical mask on, re-rap a line you flubbed with even more gusto, drop it low to Megan Thee Stallion, or harmonize Drake and J. Cole with Bollywood classics. Another definition of formless is “without a clear or definite shape or structure.” To some that thought can be freeing. To others, it’s scary to be so without direction. Then, there comes a time when sticking with what’s expected of you is slowly stifling your voice — you feel compelled to liberate yourself, no matter the cost. We think the most important aspect of Formless is having the courage to be who you are as an individual. When we think about the role that marginalized creatives play here at UW–Madison we have to face the unfortunate truth that often we are limited in the amount of space that we are
encouraged to take up in classes, at our jobs — even in the places we’re most passionate. Conditioned to succumb to systemic molds for generations, our marginalized talent rarely gets the love and appreciation that it deserves. This is why Formless is so important: cultivating a space for people to be exalted, celebrated and loved for who they are in their rawest form. Moda Magazine, The Wisconsin Union Performing Arts Center, The Social Justice Hub and The Black Voice came together to break the mold and move freely in a space that is meant to liberate rather than oppress. This show was intentional. It was beautiful. It was inspiring. It was formless. Take the time to read this zine to learn more about the creatives behind Formless and work from other activistartists at UW–Madison. We hope you’re left thinking about the aspect of your life you could approach the Formless way and how in turn, you can pass that energy on to uplift others. With gratitude, Lauryn Azu, Editor-in-Chief of The Black Voice Abbey Perkins, Co-Director of Formless
Freestyling through Formless Written by Brooke Messaye, The Black Voice Copy Editor The melodic voices of those that previously went unheard rang loud throughout the halls of the University of Wisconsin–Madison’s Memorial Union Play Circle. Formless was the culmination of months of collaboration between Moda Magazine, The Wisconsin Union Performing Arts Center, The Social Justice Hub and The Black Voice. It was an event that worked to highlight, amplify and celebrate the work and the talents of artists and students in the Madison area who identify as members of marginalized communities. Freshman singer Alicia Obiakor took the breaths of the audience away as she performed a rendition of “I’m Tired” by Labrinth and Zendaya. She felt the song was relatable for not just college students, but marginalized people as a whole. “I felt very disconnected from UW–Madison for a very long time, and I almost was reluctant to come here, because of how much I thought that I wouldn’t fit in,” she says. “I know that I still don’t fit in, but I think the things that make me different, and things that make me stand out are exactly my gifts.”
to go look, and you got to go searching and if you don’t find anything, you have to do it yourself.” Rapper Fred Steinmetz, also known as Fred The Black Kid or FTBK, also recalled how being Black and working in the music industry in a predominantly white place like Wisconsin has thrown him into spaces where he hasn’t felt like he belonged. “It’s harder for a lot of people of color and in the LGBTQ community because there’s not a lot of spaces that are just there to promote them,” he says. Steinmetz reflected on his childhood and remembers questioning his Blackness. “As I met more Black people, I was able to find out about Black culture and just who I am,” he says. “It became more solidified and I started to just own that and be like, no, I am Fred The Black Kid and no one can take that away from me.”
“I know that I still don’t fit in, but I think the things that make me different, and things that make me stand out are exactly my gifts.”
Obiakor saw adversity and how it infiltrated her life but instead of letting it hold her down, it inspires her to recognize her talents.
Other artists such as rapper Jaylen Poole, singer Princess Vaulx and South Asian a cappella group Wisconsin Waale also shared their crafts at the artivism concert.
“I’m fully aware of all the circumstances and the obstacles and the literal social constructs that are working in favor of me failing, but I cannot allow that to happen because I just don’t feel like it’s in my destiny,” she says. “I will always rely on music, I will always rely on my art.”
President of Waale Simran Katyal reflected on Formless, its mission, and the opportunities it presented.
Shane Alston, junior rapper and self-producer from New York, refers to himself as Shane Finesse when performing. He blessed the ears of listeners with music from his last album and a slew of unreleased songs, as the Formless space allowed him to expand his audience and meet more creatives in his community. Growing up, Alston was always surrounded by music. He saw the difficulties for artists trying to break into the field and he went through them himself. “You gotta do it yourself man,” Alston says. “You can’t go looking for handouts, especially out here. You just got
“Formless was a memorable performance that I’m grateful to have experienced with Wisconsin Waale,” she says. “The energy from performers and audience members on and off the stage was indescribable and it was a great space and opportunity to share our voices as members of a marginalized community who often goes unheard.” Waale started when Katyal was a freshman and she has got to grow and evolve both vocally and as a person with fellow members of the group. In her leadership role, she looks to make a difference in years ahead. “It excites me for there to now be a space for the younger and future members to be able to share their voice and shine in ways that are not always presented to them on a regular basis,” she says.
At Midnight
Written by Tatiyana Benson, The Black Voice Programming Coordinator
The sun don’t shine on black kids that cry alone at night. It’s blocked by glass ceilings and icy bars, and a long fight. They say their prayers before bed, but the only good things coming will be in the dreams they dream in their heads. They chase after the stars while being chased by police cars. With noses too wide to and hair too nappy to ever truly be happy. What can they do? The sun don’t shine on black kids with broken hearts. Instead, it’s overshadowed by the system pulling their families apart. Some let white people disrespect their culture tryna fit in but in the end, there’s no good way to fight vultures and win. So they’ll pretend it’s funny just waiting for it to get sunny. Oh! but the sun don’t shine on black kids that’s right. Rather, it soaks up all their might. My only explanation is that the sun doesn’t heal on plantations, only kills. So they settle for endorsement deals. That way they have enough money to know the last time the sun won’t shine on them.
a different direction
Dancers define what it means to break the mold Written by lauryn azu, The Black Voice Editor-in-Chief
Formless’ dancers enchanted viewers at Memorial Union’s Play Circle. Two soloists and two troupes each moved to pieces that touted their creative might and spread messages of self-love, acceptance and confidence, interwoven between performances from singers and rappers. Soloist Akiwele Burayidi performed a hauntingly beautiful lyrical piece to the track of opera singer Princess Vaulx’s rendition of “L’heure exquise” by Reynaldo Hahn. Burayidi says she has danced since she was aged 4, and has never performed with a live singer. She was looking forward to the opportunity, but Vaulx’s illness on the day of the performance meant a change of plans. “It’s always more interesting for me to work with other people rather than just doing something on my own,” Burayidi says. The dancer instead performed to the pre-recorded track with choreography she had improvised, as she prefers to feel the music in the moment. Another Formless soloist, Jackson Neal, sought to embrace duality in a dance that followed a spoken word poem on femininity, queerness and the Catholic Church. “I felt like the movement kind of demonstrated both the curvature and the sharpness of my own physical form, which in a way feels like my masculine and feminine energies coming together,” they say. The pieces were a combination of performances Neal had done previously at the Line Breaks Hip Hop Theatre Festival. Naomi Bergena was a co-director of Formless and also performed in a group that danced to Kendrick Lamar’s “DNA” and Tyler, the Creator’s “JUGGERNAUT.” Bergena and her co-performers are in Hypnotiq, UW– Madison’s most prominent hip-hop dance group. They decided to break off and perform their own dance for Formless to flex their individual strengths. “Everybody got to shine a little bit and we also wanted to elevate everyone having the spotlight,” Bergena says. Bergena, a junior, performed with two freshmen and one sophomore whose experiences entering the world of dance at UW–Madison were impacted by the pandemic. She says they’re all still getting used to performing for larger live audiences.
“I think it was just a really fun experience,” says Jaiden Reaves, Bergena’s co-performer. “And it was fun to get to share the stage with these new friends that I found here.” Terrianna Lyles performed in a trio to the songs “Got That Bomb” by Toni Romiti, “Rich MF” by Trippie Redd and “Cocky AF” by Megan Thee Stallion. Lyles is also the co-founder of Elevation Dance Team at UW–Madison, a hip-hop and HBCU-style majorette group in its first semester on campus. Like Bergena, she finds extracurricular dance groups to be a stress reliever and a source of community on a big campus.
“You can authentically be yourself when it comes to dance and even any of the other acts,” Lyles says.
To Lyles, Formless was about embracing individuality, which is crucial for marginalized students who feel like they have to fit certain labels in order to fit in. “You can authentically be yourself when it comes to dance and even any of the other acts,” Lyles says. “There’s no criteria that you have to try to fit yourself into to make yourself more palatable for a certain audience, especially being a Black person on campus.”
Styled by Allegra
written and illustrated By Tamia Fowlkes, The Black Voice Social Media Director
To be formless is to be without a clear or definite shape or structure. Since UW–Madison senior Allegra Abrams stepped foot on campus in 2018, her exploration of the fashion, self-expression and activism have done just that. Deadset and focused on using fashion as an artform and means to advocate and uplift marginalized communities, Abrams most recent work reminds us what it means to truly be formless. Inspired by a tumultuous year of racial reckoning and social unrest in Minneapolis, the place she called home, Abrams found her inspiration. In March 2021, Abrams discovered the Fashion Scholarship Fund x Pacsun Gender Neutral Design Competition. The program asked students to create an original gender-neutral collection that reflected their design aesthetic through creativity, identity and storytelling. Through her project, she sought to outline her artistic intentions and was selected as an inaugural member of Virgil Abloh’s Post-Modern Scholarship Program. Emphasizing sustainability, diversity and customization, Abrams’ work embraced physical expressions of individuality, peace and self-love and made her a standout candidate among the program’s applicants. “My initial case study was on self-care for Black women historically and infusing that with fashion, but all my work has been trying to help and promote groups that need a little extra love,” she says. So, when she was selected as an FSFxPacsun competition winner in May, she shifted her attention to the community that raised her.
“I’m really trying to learn from different angles and not be so worried about going down the traditional path and being really focused on helping my community,” Abrams says.
For the second half of her sophomore year and the entirety of her junior year of college, Abrams stayed at home with her family on the doorstep of racial justice history. George Floyd’s name and image flooded every inch of Minneapolis. In protest, progress and in action, his memory inspired many. It was from Floyd’s murder that Abrams set forth in creating her “Love To The People” line. “There’s a lot of change that still needs to be made, but I really think Minneapolis was the catalyst for this whole kind of 2020 revolution with social justice,” Abrams says. “Love To The People” is a reflective collection that riffs on Minneapolis locals’ desire to take action and instill change. Abrams feels it was the perfect opportunity to give love back to her city and to offer them a thank you for uplifting people with optimism and the hope to keep going in the face of tragedy. The collection features 12 signature pieces with a ’70s, sporty-inspired feel. Many pieces are embellished with messages to “Love More” or camouflaged “MPLS” embroidered letters. Abrams is grateful for the experience she had working with a major brand like Pacsun. Without the project, she feels that learning how to advocate for herself in the industry would have been more challenging. As her industry becomes more welcoming to diverse voices and thought leaders, Abrams hopes to carry with her new innovative approaches to sustainable, thoughtful fashion. When she graduates in the spring, she wants to continue her career pursuits in the realm of sustainable fashion curation and design. Inspired by mentors like Virgil Abloh, she says she won’t limit herself to one trend or path within the industry. “I’m really trying to learn from different angles and not be so worried about going down the traditional path and being really focused on helping my community,” Abrams says.
Fred
metamorp Written by Robin Robinson, The Black Voice Managing Editor
My people were said to be conjured out of mother’s land said she bore us into a new world that does not love and left our body free for deterioration made us walk in decomposition Amongst those who have already claimed the title of the walking dead for themselves And raised us, in the land of decree Drenched in red everyday, but leaving nothing but white footsteps and our own blue faces Chained by DNA, my body contains over 400 years of rage and anger I am the voice the weary Intertwined with 402 years of my ancestors blood bursting through my veins Fighting for me to survive
To hold onto my humanity in the most inhumane circumstances We must all chose whether or not to be a monster To be on the side of good or evil You tell me, what profits a man to gain the world but lose his soul A lifeless vessel powered by death The wages of sin must be repaid in blood And my people’s debt is stretched to the core of the earth We’ve been displaced our entire lives… should we even try To break free from the world, And untie the lie that hides beneath the tide It will require the sacrifice of life, the exodus & betrayal from the world Who we thought, we knew so well - would shatter the ground beneath us And there we were aware of the truth, living proof metamorphosis
rphosis They told me, mother nearly died waiting for us to realize that she had always loved us That she had no business telling the world right from wrong And that the world took us from her Deep rooted dirt to grow green, The world got greedy, wanted more than what my mother would ever give and so they decided to take the most precious thing to her In her anger, it is said that mother will one day open up the ground and swallow all whom bare tethered to all we have now But she cannot leave her children in the land of the walking dead, You tell me, what profits a man to gain the world but lose his soul A lifeless vessel powered by death
The wages of sin must be repaid in blood And the world’s debt is stretched to the core of the earth What will happen when democracy dies in darkness? When the leaders of the free world, become chained to the land of the free When no comes to save them from their sins Perpetrated against the ground it self and my people When we return to mother, I will breathe in heavy and exhale Debt-free, saved me from a land who wanted to see me burn Tables turn, lessoned learn Once last becomes first and gets the final laugh But nothing is funny about a nation embalmed in flames
i’ll take it black Written by abigail perkins, Moda Diversity and Inclusion Co-Director and The Black Voice Financial Chair
There’s enough cream in my coffee, Most often, they don’t really trip when they see me But let me put on some lashes, when they see me They eyes stuck on my body, call it got2b They break they neck, craning. It’s got2b My hair takin’ up their space, I breathe their air without apology I stare back, bat them lashes and take deep breaths. no apology. I make em sweat like it’s my job, got my master’s in Blackology I make em sweat, it’s my job — I got my master’s in Blackology Until they sip me like a latte, once again, when my hair is straight The silk press is to respect from them as ten shots is to walking straight Hot comb won’t ever touch my head again, hear it from me Bring in the coils and kinks and hair grease and minks for me ‘Cause there’s enough cream in my coffee.