RESET THE ALGORITHM

Season 1 Episode 13

EMEL’s new album, available April 19, 2024, is titled MRA, which translates to “woman” from Arabic, and is a physical manifestation of an important aspect of her music and art. This week on Artist 2 Artist, Patrisse Cullors gets to know the narrative behind this international musician, her deeply rooted ethos of feminine power in music, and how she embraced the power of her voice to speak for those that were silenced in the oppressive climate that shaped her early life. Three years ago, Emel Mathlouthi, the New York City-based art-rock musician who simply goes by EMEL, began writing her fourth studio album MRA, a beguiling coalescence of ethereal, hip-hop, and indie-pop sounds that is, at turns, a call to compassion and to action. Created with an entirely woman-identifying team, it fully embodies the core of its title. Growing up in Tunisia, EMEL listened to everything from classical music to Art Tatum to Celine Dion. From diverse inspirations, EMEL believes that her art is the means by which she can impact the culture around her, that the artist does not choose their audience, but instead offers their voice and a revolutionary message, to anyone who may or may not know they need to hear it. Her musical narratives are rooted in the perseverance of human experience, and rouses us from complacency into empathetic action. For EMEL, presenting her music as art, is of core importance to her, reminding us that when we forget the power behind music, and its ability to highly affect the human psyche, we overlook its power to create political and social reimagination. In an intersection of art and abolition, EMEL and Patrisse offer us a reminder of the powerful impact we each hold the power to effect, simply by examining the boundaries by which we currently show up… and breaking them down, one by one. Today, as this episode releases, EMEL performs at Public Records, sharing her voice and story, and daring the women in her life to stand, fully and proud, in their power.

10.13.2024
48 MIN
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5.28.2024
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41 MINS

Season 1 Episode 20

This week on Artist 2 Artist, Patrisse Cullors joins a discussion of heritage, art and the resistance of reimagination with artists and mother-son duo, Shahla Dorriz and alexandre ali reza dorriz. "You're the only person in the world who could get my mom and I in a room together to do a podcast of all things”, ali reza says to Patrisse… and while that may be true, we are so grateful they came to chat. This episode is an authentic reminder of the importance of personal expression in conjunction with legacy, and how the representation of heritage can transform future generations through art. Shahla, a fashion designer and creative consultant, shares her journey to finding her most authentic artistic medium through fashion, and the importance of the multi-generational approach to her work that centers the inclusion of her Iranian heritage, often in collaboration with her son. Ali Reza, an artist with a research-based practice, sheds light both on his own work with Crenshaw Dairy Mart in Los Angeles, and his work in creating localized hubs for economic, artistic and agricultural autonomy for his community, but on the awe and inspiration instilled in him through both his own experience of his artistic practice and in the one that has been nurtured between himself and his mother. In conversation, the trio explore the waters of storytelling through fabric, the influence of the duo's Iranian heritage on their work, and both the challenges and rewards that arise when one sets an intention to preserve cultural design and promote diverse, unique perspectives within the fashion industry. This mother-son duo are an impactful showcase of how divergent ideas can curate something beautiful, created through that unique channel that each of us has access to; of how that channel becomes ever more powerful the more honest and collaborative we open ourselves to be. This episode reminds us all that artists have the ability to challenge oppressive systems, to create in a way that reminds consumers of times past from which they have the opportunity to learn, and that in embracing ourselves and the roots from which we grew, we become unshakably planted in our identity. "Value your work. If you know what you're working on and if you see that work as valuable, it is valuable."