Heavy Breathing: Jasmine Nyende

SFAC Galleries is excited to partner with Heavy Breathing on a session with Jasmine Nyende, lead vocalist of LA based Afropunk band Fuck U Pay Us (FUPU). Nyende will lead participants in a vocal training workshop where they will learn the exercises Nyende uses when warming up for her performances. She'll frame each exercise around the legacy of Black women in punk music, punk music as a musical form that unites people in struggle, and the ways in which the body stores and releases trauma and pain.

“I hope the exercise inspires people to think about where trauma and pain is stored in our bodies, how screaming and sharing raw, unfiltered emotion can unite people in solidarity, and explore the legacy Black women have had in punk music.” – Jasmine Nyende

Organized in conjunction with the SFACs current exhibition An idea of a boundary, this Heavy Breathing session explores “how sound and voice demarcate space, and how punk music continues to be a powerful response to encroachments upon bodies, space, and civil rights when standard modes of negotiation have failed.” – Heavy Breathing

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About Fuck U Pay Us:
Fuck U Pay Us is an Afropunk band based out of South Central, LA. They are Uhuru Moor (vocals/guitar), Tianna Nicole (drums), Jasmine Nyende (vocals), and Ayotunde Osareme (bass). fuckupayus.bandcamp.com/releases

About Heavy Breathing:
Heavy Breathing is a series of experimental movement seminars designed by artists that combine physical activity with group discussion on ideas related to their creative practice. Critical discourse often feels heady, abstract, and divorced from the body. How do conversations change when we are moving and out of breath? What new modes of thinking become possible?

Heavy Breathing is organized by Sophia Wang and Lisa Rybovich Crallé. Now in its third year, the series has received partnering support from Southern Exposure's Alternative Exposure program, the Berkeley Art Museum & Pacific Film Archive, the SF Art Book Fair 2017, and the San Francisco Arts Commission.
heavyheavybreathing.com