SHA’CONDRIA “iCON” SIBLEY
Blk Girl Dream In Color. 2023, Original spoken word composition.
Creatively interprets the experience of Kyla:
Interviewer: If you had to imagine a world without jails or prisons, could you describe that to us?
Kyla: I can't describe it exactly, but in colors, I can. So ... a vibrant purple and a royal blue, and a hot pink with a light green. And orange and yellow. A colorful place, a happy place.
I am a daughter of the deep South, of rural Louisiana, of “the coun-try.” I am an (evolved) daughter of the southern missionary baptist church tradition. I am a former aspiring cardiothoracic surgeon and obstetrician/gynecologist. I am also my mother’s (only) daughter, my grandmothers’ and great-grandmothers’ daughter, and the daughter of all the women in my community and bloodline.
As an artist, I now like to say that I am still a heart doctor and a “baby deliverer,” I just have a different operating room. I am a believer that our collective condition is a direct reflection of how we treat girls, women, and nature—the things that birth and bring us forth—and first and foremost, a reflection of the relationship we have with ourselves and the Divine. Through writing, poetry, live spoken word perfor-mance (often containing musical elements such as vocals and a loop pedal), visual art (acrylic paint on canvas, hand and digital drawing, and crafts), and singing and songwriting, I create medicine in the form of art and experiences that are meant to ground, affirm, empower, celebrate, and evoke examination of my own experiences and the experiences of Blk/Indigenous people in America (more specifically Blk/Indigenous Women and even more specifically Blk/Indigenous southern Women) in an effort to contribute to our holistic healing, wellness, and wholeness, and eventually, that of us All.
My artistic practice is spiritual, ancestral, and intentional. I allow my voice and hands/body to be a vessel to channel ancestral recollec-tion, present acknowledgement, and future possibilities. My work is my ministry. It echoes the drawl of small-town Louisiana Blk folks with a reverence for both the people and the Divine in a way that reso-nates beyond the walls of both church and body.
Sha’Condria “iCon” Sibley (b. Alexandria, LA; based in New Orleans, LA) poet and artist of many mediums whose work spans across visual art, theater, music, and film. A multiple-time national poetry slam champion, iCon is also the author of a critically acclaimed poetry collection, My Name Is Pronounced Holy,
and uses her work largely to speak on her lived experience as a Black woman as it relates to her deep Southern/Louisiana roots, reclaiming names/identity, spirituality, and healing. Her work has been featured in outlets such as Huffington Post, For Harriet, Teen Vogue, BET, and BBC World Radio, as well as in several exhibits, documentaries, and anthologies. Recently in 2022, iCon released a multimedia love letter to Black women called The Here Women produced by Junebug Productions. She studied Biology at Xavier University of Louisiana and Community Health Sciences at Tulane University School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine.
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