- 2 days ago
“Art as Healing” is a powerful and reflective conversation spotlighting the sculptors behind The Stories of Us—a global exhibition that has traveled from the United Nations to the Essence Festival of Culture, creating an immersive and soulful tribute to Black identity, imagination, and belonging.
These artists are not just creators of form—they are stewards of memory, culture, and ancestral vision. Through this dialogue, panelists will explore how their sculptures serve as instruments of healing and how storytelling, sound, and space come together to create new portals for wellness and reconnection.
These artists are not just creators of form—they are stewards of memory, culture, and ancestral vision. Through this dialogue, panelists will explore how their sculptures serve as instruments of healing and how storytelling, sound, and space come together to create new portals for wellness and reconnection.
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LifestyleTranscript
00:00Good morning everyone. How's that? Much better? I am Melissa Noel, Senior News and Travel Editor
00:07at Essence. So good to be with you all this morning. How's everybody doing? Good, good. First
00:13panel for us of the day. I want to have my amazing panelists, each one of you, to please introduce
00:19yourselves to our audience. So happy to be with you this morning. Thank you, Melissa. My name is
00:25Ashley Shaw Scott Ajay. I'm the co-founder and CEO of The Stories of Us. Good morning everyone.
00:35My name is Monique Trusclare Maddox and I am the president and CEO of the Descendants Truth
00:41and Reconciliation Foundation. Hello, welcome to Essence. I think I got some audio here.
00:49You really do. Yes. I love it. I mean it's exciting, right? So good morning everyone.
00:54That's right. My name is Monique Lorden. I'm an artist and author behind one of those installations
01:02over there and I can't wait to share my art with you. Awesome. Thank you all so much for joining us,
01:09for being here, starting your Friday off with us. We are really, really happy to get into this
01:14conversation. So I really want to start off with one thing. We know that the Stories of Us exhibit
01:20is here in New Orleans. It's been on a journey though, from New York City to Cleveland, Ohio.
01:26Now we're in NOLA. And I want to start off by asking you, Ashley, specifically, one thing that
01:32you have said about the exhibit is that our stories are our salvation. How do you see your work,
01:40whether as a curator or as an advocate, contributing to that? How does healing through storytelling and art,
01:50what does that look like for you? How did you bring that together in such an amazing exhibit like Stories of Us?
01:55So it's the 4th of July today. What does that mean? Today, 249 years ago, the Declaration of Independence was signed.
02:10Now, that was in the name of liberty, justice, freedom, happiness, a lot of things. Importantly, equality.
02:19Now, 1776, a lot of people did not have any of those, right? And even today, people struggle for their freedoms.
02:31So here we are today as the Stories of Us. We're a civic imagination nonprofit that looks at our past,
02:39our present, and our future in America and questions, how are we getting to this aspiration of equality?
02:47We do that through public art, taking up public spaces, making sure broad and diverse stories are being told,
02:58often stories that have been overlooked. We tell those stories in artwork. We have artists like Monique,
03:06and we have extraordinary supporters like Monique, who's going to tell us more about how she supports this work
03:13through descendants. So when I think about the stories of us, I think about healing.
03:20I think about the fact that public art is an act of healing.
03:27So that would be my answer to the question.
03:31It's an act of public healing. I love that. And Monique, I want to go to you here.
03:35As one of the artists featured in the Stories of Us exhibit, talk to us a little bit about your sculpture,
03:42what it means. It literally, literally lifts us up as we look at your piece.
03:47So tell us how it was to work on this and be a part of such a moving exhibit,
03:53but also one that has so much meaning as we think about what healing looks like.
03:57Yeah, absolutely.
03:57So when I got the email, it was a question. How am I going to communicate the story of us?
04:05And that's an easy thing to answer, but when I thought about it, I thought,
04:09this feels like a heartbeat. It feels like a beat.
04:12Yeah.
04:12And then we have the drum, right? And I started thinking about the power of the drum and the power
04:18of the beat. Y'all, I'm from New Orleans. Our beat has existed in porch songs and bounce music
04:26and second lines. And so I'm thinking about the stories of us that we're already telling.
04:32Yeah.
04:32And how can I then communicate that by way of my piece? So if you, well, after this segment,
04:38if you go that way, there's some sculpture, some drums, and mine's are the hands, right?
04:44Some beautiful, angelic hands that tells the story of us. That's right, hands.
04:51Well, one day, I'll tell y'all really briefly. I was looking at my mother's hand,
04:55and shout out mom. I think I know you're here. Hey mom. Hey mom. I was looking at her hands and
05:01I saw my own. Matter of fact, look at your hands right now, everyone. Just take a good look at them.
05:06Flip the sides. Take a good look. I thought I have my mother's hands. And that's such a beautiful
05:14thing because she's a mother that's carried me and nurtured me. And I thought I've got to have my
05:19grandmother's hands and her mother's hands and my grandfather's people who have toiled the soil
05:25and done the work, which means I too can do the work. Absolutely. And so that's what inspired the
05:30piece. Yeah. And I love that. I think that's so, that is so meaningful. And when you think about
05:35healing and you apply it to the concept you came up with, how does art for you serve as a space
05:43for healing, for reconciliation, and for coming together? Art is for me, both a mic and a mirror.
05:52I say this all the time. Have you heard it before? Because it resonates with me. Art should serve as
05:57a mirror because I hope that people can see themselves in it, right? See their healing in it,
06:02things that their lineage or their ancestry have survived and persevered through, and then also
06:07see their futures in it. And by way of a mic, they can amplify themselves and there's healing in all of
06:13that, right? There's healing in seeing yourself and the ones that have come before us and giving us
06:19space to amplify the message and do the work. Yeah. Thank you so much for that. I think that brings
06:24us right into the next question for you, Monique Maddox. We have two wonderful Moniques on the stage
06:30today. You are president of the Descendants Truth and Reconciliation Foundation. You're working on
06:38reconciliation and reparations for descendants of West Africans who were enslaved by Jesuit priests.
06:44How do you see art and storytelling as essential tools in the work of truth-telling and reconciliation?
06:53And what role does creative expression play in healing this historical trauma?
06:59Thank you for that question because it is in the thread of everything that I do every single day
07:05to talk about truth, racial healing, and transforming this country. When we look at art,
07:13we know that art is something that we all embrace with our own eyes through our own journey. But it
07:20is a place where we can heal. We can look at it and say, what do I see in this art? How do I begin to discuss
07:27what it is that is hurting me? And how do I go forward? So when I talk about the work that the Descendants Truth
07:34and Reconciliation Foundation does, it is really embedded in healing. We all come from a place of hurt
07:42in some way or another. For me as a descendant of Jesuit enslavement, I came to this knowing that my
07:50church hurt my family. But I needed to heal from that because there's a God that's bigger than me
07:56and bigger than all of us. And so we needed to move forward. And how do we move forward? We need to
08:03meet everyone where they are and heal together. And so my journey every single day is working alongside
08:09people who are looking for healing. And to bring this exhibit to New Orleans was very instrumental
08:16in allowing us to be able to share our story. There's a drum over there that talks about the
08:22Georgetown 272, the 272 people who were sold to save the Catholic Church. There's a drum over there
08:30that talks about that. We commissioned an artist alongside with other artists here to bring this
08:36exhibit here to New Orleans. And we're excited to see where it goes in the country.
08:40Yeah. And just to follow up there, you talked a lot about the work that's being done and
08:45how art plays a role in that. How do you see people responding to not only such a remarkable story
08:53where you are now leading an effort and an organization that is not only helping people to
08:59confront some of those painful things, but also leading a path of reparations in a way that we
09:07don't often necessarily talk about. We think reparations often, we think about the monetary aspects,
09:12but there's also reparatory justice and just being able to have these conversations, acknowledgement
09:18and forward movement. So talk a little bit about how you are doing that within the work that you do.
09:23Yes, absolutely. So you're absolutely right. People think about reparations as a form of monetary
09:30compensation. And that's great. I'm all for that. Our foundation is all for that. What we are doing,
09:37though, is trying to heal a nation from the sin that has been created in holding our families back.
09:44And using art as a way of embracing that is a way of looking at how do we see ourselves,
09:50just like Monique mentioned earlier, you look at your hands and you know that you're passing on
09:54something from generation to generation. My family's passed on to me the perseverance to move forward,
10:02to carry forward. And I know if they could suffer and endure through enslavement all of the years that
10:09they had from the 1700s of coming into this country, I can do this and I can carry this torch forward
10:17as well. Yeah. Thank you for that. Yes. Please, audience, clap it up. Clap it up.
10:25As we continue this conversation, we're talking about art, we're talking about storytelling,
10:30we're talking about it as a tool for healing. Ashley, I want to come back to you.
10:35This is an exhibit that has featured artists from Haiti to Nigeria to New Orleans,
10:41each with their own healing traditions, each with their own sensibilities. How do these different
10:48cultural perspectives, how have they created certain conversations across the diaspora that you've
10:55seen really take shape as we think about how not only do we use art as a tool, but also as a means
11:03for conversation. So in the exhibition just across from here, that was from our exhibition at the United Nations
11:13in the Permanent Forum for People of African Descent. And in that, there are Haitians, as you said,
11:21Nigerians, Tanzanians, folks that are part of the diaspora who have come to America to be part of this nation.
11:29And so that is so much a part of America's story. People who have come, you know, some of us,
11:37like Monique was saying, some of us have come not on our own volition, from my family, for example.
11:43But there also are immigrant voices in America that have come to pursue the American dream and come
11:51for a better life for their families, whatever that means to them. So this collection of stories
11:58is really about who we are as a nation. There's so many voices that come together in this. And so
12:06it's important, as we have a narrowing of our national narrative, that we put public markers that
12:15say, no, this is who we are. We're not going to be put into a small box that doesn't represent
12:21who we really are. So over here, you see to our left, and we'll be doing, as Monique said,
12:28we'll be doing a tour, giving all of the background of the stories that were created by New Orleans-based
12:35artists. These are the stories that will then move on to our next city, San Francisco, Philadelphia,
12:42Detroit. And as we go along, we're collecting more stories about who we are as a nation.
12:48And in 2026, we'll be celebrating the 250th year of America. It's important that everybody
12:57is included in what that is.
13:00How are, how can, so we have our audience here. They're engaged. They're listening. Is there any
13:07way for them to get involved in the stories of us? Because I know that this is an ongoing project.
13:12I did have the opportunity to see it at the United Nations and now see it here in New Orleans with
13:18some of the great locally-based artists here. How can people get involved?
13:24So many ways. From just going onto our Instagram and seeing what we're posting, going to our
13:32exhibitions. If you're in the city that we're in, right now we're going to be moving this exhibition
13:39up to Cleveland. So if you have family members there, please let them know. Come to the exhibition.
13:45Check out our website. What we have coming is our storytelling platform. And this is where all of us,
13:53we don't have to be brilliant artists like Monique. All of us can bring our stories to the table.
13:59And so we'll be recording those stories. We're building out a platform that allows you to speak into
14:05your phone, help use AI for good, help create your story, and then project that story through our
14:13platform and really share who America is. I love that. I look forward to being a part of that story
14:20sharing and telling. I want to come back to using storytelling as a means of healing. Monique, for you
14:29and working in such a space where there was a lot of harm done and people are sharing stories. People
14:37are finding out things that they never knew, whether about their families or themselves. How have you
14:43seen people be able to not only acknowledge but reconcile with some difficult truths and be able
14:51to move forward from that? What's something that sticks out in your mind as one of those stories?
14:56You know, I thank you for that question, because people come to us from all places. And they enter
15:05into learning this history in different spaces. They don't, they never knew that. For example,
15:13I learned this history in 2016 through the New York Times. That's less than 10 years ago. But I know
15:22that my grandmother knew her grandfather who was also enslaved. So you think about that. And I think
15:32back to what my grandparents knew and what I knew about my grandmother, that's not that far away. So for
15:41them to share those stories with us and to tell us what they endured in their lifetimes, we can carry that
15:49forward. In fact, in the, in the book that Rachel Swarnes wrote, the 272, it's the story of a family
15:55who told over and over how a free woman became enslaved and how her journey led her from Southern
16:03Maryland to New Orleans, Louisiana. That's our family. And that's our family story. We have to share those
16:11stories. I go home every single day and talk to my mother about what her life was like and talk about the
16:18things that she endured so that I could share that with my family and carry that on. And so when we
16:24talk about healing and storytelling, it's so important for us to listen and embrace people where
16:30they are so you can move forward and begin to heal. I love that you said you go home every day and you
16:36talk to your mother about her story just so that you can know it and pass it on. I think that is really
16:41important because if we're not talking to our elders, if we're not talking to those matriarchs and
16:46our families, sometimes those stories literally can be lost. And especially at the time that we're in
16:54right now where we're seeing so much suppression of our stories at major levels, how is it, how have
17:03you seen people really continue to embrace the work that you do even when we're seeing such a pushback
17:09against diversity, equity, and inclusion? How has that been for you?
17:14Yeah, I know that we, and we see that this model is one that people believe in. It's not something
17:22that is going to pass because it was the trendy thing to do like supporting DEI. If you really
17:29believed in it, now is the time to support it more than ever. So we have donors who come to us and say,
17:37we're afraid of the backlash. So we'd rather be anonymous in our contributions. I say, I don't
17:44really care whether you're anonymous. We just want to make sure that you continue to support.
17:48You continue to contribute to this work. But the ironic part was one of the donors said,
17:54I want to be anonymous because I'm afraid of what my black employees are going to say about
18:01how little I'm giving to your cause. Wow. And they thought a million dollars was a little
18:08amount. That means they had a lot more that they could contribute. So we'll keep doing the work so
18:14that they can feel more empowered to stand on that group. As an artist, you contributed to not only,
18:21you know, this exhibit, but just in your work, how are people responding to your art and your work,
18:28especially at this time when we're seeing so much suppression of our stories?
18:33Yeah, that's a phenomenal question because Ashley and I just saw the interaction with the piece.
18:38It's beautiful to see people stand next to my artwork and engage and read about it and scan the QR and
18:45see themselves in it. I think if I was to ask them in my mind, I'm hearing them say, we are foundations
18:50and not footnotes in this story. That's important, right? We are foundations and not footnotes.
18:56I think that's so powerful to know, feel, and think because it is the truth. You know, we are the root
19:03of it all. And so I hope that when people see my art, they feel exactly that. They engage with it.
19:10They challenge themselves to continue telling the stories. When I was creating that piece,
19:16I thought I got to carry not only my mother's story forward, but my children. My daughter's light
19:21is in every curve of those hands. My son's boldness is in the boldness of the lines, his strength.
19:28You know, my father, the way his music ripples across time and space is in the ripples of those
19:33hands. My brother and my nieces. And so it's important that we continue to do the work and
19:38tell the story because if we don't, we do become a footnote and we're bigger and bolder and badder
19:44than a footnote. We are the foundation. We are. Foundations and not footnotes. I'm going to commit
19:53that to memory today for sure. Thank you so much for that. And Ashley, back to you here.
20:01You're moving all over the country with this really powerful exhibition. You're meeting people
20:07from all walks of life. You have artists from all walks of life. What has been one of the most
20:11standout moments for you in terms of how people are not only engaging, but also showing that this
20:18is really a part of the healing process? Thank you for that question. So there was a moment we, our
20:26first exhibition was in Detroit and we had a piece that was the story of many of our families, the great
20:37migration from the South up to the North. And, um, an older black woman came up and just was nearly in
20:45tears by the piece that our artists had created because it validated her life and her experience.
20:55And I think that was such a powerful moment to see someone who was just walking from point A to
21:02point B to stop in public space and say, I matter. My story matters. I get to see this story. You know,
21:10in the United States, the vast majority of monuments are of white males. There's no surprise to that,
21:17right? But that's not reflective of what this country is. That's not at the full picture of who we are.
21:24So there was an incredible study done that shows, well, who is being, um, who is being celebrated in
21:32public space? So this exhibition really offers us a chance to celebrate our stories, tell our stories,
21:40you know, the pain and the joy and particularly the hope. There's so much that we can do. And I think,
21:48as we think about the Declaration of Independence, I really suggest, I know this sounds super boring.
21:53It's only two and a half pages. Not at all, not at all, not at all. It's only two and a half pages.
21:58Go on the internet, look at the Declaration of Independence. It is a fascinating document.
22:03Okay. And in that document are things that we can hold this country accountable for.
22:12And also we have to hold each other accountable for the work to live up to these aspirations.
22:21Okay. These are all of ours. We, we did a short survey in Detroit also that said, um, you know,
22:28what is the Declaration of Independence mean to you? And people are like, what are you talking about?
22:32That wasn't written for me. But the truth is that doesn't matter who it was written for. It is the
22:40country that you call your home. It is your document and you can hold it accountable.
22:47I think that's really powerful, especially on today. It is Independence Day, 249 years. So much
22:55happening in our country right now. So many things to process and to think about. So I think it really
22:59puts into context how we should be thinking about things at this time, um, and being critical of it,
23:05but also, as you said, holding each other accountable. Um, audience, how you guys feeling?
23:11Good. Yes. Loving the engagement. Thank you for your attention this morning for these right here
23:18with these wonderful ladies who are sharing so much of the really important work that they're doing. So
23:24as we kind of come to the end of our conversation here, um, I really wanted to ask you, each of you,
23:34you know, as you said, many visitors coming to see your artwork, coming to see this exhibit,
23:38or engaging with the storytelling. Many of them are having that moment where they're saying,
23:43this is me, you know, I see myself, I see my family, I see my mother, my grandmother, as you mentioned,
23:49Monique. Um, how can we balance our individual healing with building collective understanding,
23:57right? Holding each other accountable, but also being there for each other and building those bridges
24:02as we look towards continuing to understand how we move forward. And anyone can start.
24:09I'll go. I learned on my journey so long ago that there is no differentiation from inner work
24:16and community work. I think it starts there, right? We do the work within, it echoes into community work.
24:22We do the work within, we're holding each other accountable because we hold ourselves accountable.
24:27And so if you're looking for a place to start, to do the work, start here. Because what you do here
24:34in yourself is going to reach one and teach one and continue to ripple forward. Don't worry about
24:40how do I become an activist or how do I amplify my voice? Just do the work here. And it will echo
24:47and it will amplify and it will be that activism that you're looking for because it all starts here.
24:53You know, I think you are counterproductive if you start outside and try to take that back in,
24:58right? So always just look to self first, not in a selfish way, but in a healing way,
25:03in a self-preservation kind of way, in a foundational kind of way. And then you're able to build up
25:09your community because you're doing the work properly. You're doing it for yourself. You're doing
25:14it for the right reasons. Thank you for that. Thanks. And I want to piggyback on what Monique just said,
25:21because I go out and tell people every day that I do heart work. Yes, this work is hard, but it's
25:29also heart work. That's what I do. Because when you pour yourself out into something, it really speaks
25:37the truth. And the truth really comes forward. So what I set out every day to do is truth telling.
25:44I go out and tell the stories of our family. I tell the journey. I speak it into places where I'm not
25:51welcome. But I stand on that truth because I know that it is what is going to set me free.
25:58Great. Thank you both for that. Yes, don't be afraid to clap it out. We're getting some gems.
26:05Gems. I hope you're writing them down. So first of all, I just wanted to take a moment
26:12and thank the women on this stage. Monique from early on saw the alignment and what we're doing and what
26:22she's doing and this reconciliation. In the stories of us, we talk about transformative solidarity
26:29and this idea that your dignity is intertwined in my own. We cannot be separated. Right.
26:36So for us, that's really the foundation of the work. That's the call to action for us
26:42to understand your existence through transformative solidarity and knowing that if your brothers and
26:51sisters are being attacked, if your civil rights or someone else's civil rights are being attacked,
26:59that we have to stand up. And so, and we have to take space. And so the public work, the public art
27:06is about taking space and reminding ourselves who we are. So that I just, I thank Monique. I thank both of
27:15the Moniques on here for being a part of our journey at the stories of us to really bring that to the
27:24public. And I thank you, Melissa, for your article. If you have a chance, go on essence.com, check out the
27:30article that Melissa wrote about our exhibition at the UN and thank you. Well, thank you all so much.
27:38I took a lot away from this conversation, but a couple of key things I just wanted to share is just
27:42remembering we are foundations, not footnotes. As you said, we're talking about transformative
27:48solidarity. And when you see the stories of us exhibit and you just see artwork in public spaces,
27:55remember that it's not just art there for you to take in. It is also reminding you that we are here
28:01to take up space. So again, I'm Melissa Noel, senior news and travel editor at Essence. I want to thank our
28:08amazing panel this morning for sharing, for enlightening us and for just doing the work.
28:15Thank you ladies so, so much. And thank you audience. You are amazing. And we hope you enjoy
28:22your Essence Festival weekend. Please check out the stories of us exhibit, engage, interact, and I hope
28:28it impacts you really in the way that it impacted me and have a conversation about it. Definitely share.
28:35Thank you. Thank you. We'll be giving a tour right now at the sculptures. They're just over here.
28:41We'd love to share more about what our artists have done. Awesome. Thank you.
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