Part sound art, part creative critical discourse, American Chameleon is a conversation based podcast hosted by performance artist, poet, and curator jaamil olawale kosoko. It centers around the idea of the artist as a chameleon––someone who shapeshifts in order to survive in the world––not only in response to the environment, but also in response to the past, their inner selves, and imaginations of the future. The project began as a way to capture and archive the critical (but often invisible) conversations Jaamil was already having with fellow Black/POC artists, scholars, and activists during the development processes of his newest performance work. In the show, we explore how these subjects exemplify the chameleonic figure who moves between cultures, mediums, and projected identities. The writers and activists come from a number of places around the world and work in a surprising number of creative genres. They include former U.S. Poet Laureate Tracy K. Smith, choreographer Miguel Gutierrez, performance artists Ima Iduozee and mayfield brooks, sound designer and composer Everett Asis-Saunders, writer Season Butler, and curator and scholar Joy Kristin Kalu. Conversations, interwoven with reading excerpts and experimental sound art, dive into the rich complexities of grief, the ways in which identity forms or emerges out of one’s creative practice, and how history, politics, and personal narratives shape the work contemporary global thought leaders create.
