Simiya Sudduth
Site: Rung For Women
Curator: Katherine Simóne Reynolds
Simiya Sudduth is a mother, artist, and educator currently living and practicing in St. Louis. Sudduth explores the concepts of healing, spirituality, social justice, visibility, the landscape, joy, and beauty. Their practice is a vessel to examine their own mental and emotional healing and spiritual journey while serving as a provocation for collective healing, inquiry, and expansion.
As a self-identified Black, queer femme, artist, and mother, Sudduth feels that their practice holds power when they take up and command public space.
For Counterpublic 2023, Sudduth’s projects act as a connected reflection of all the ideas and working methods they have been exploring and experimenting with since 2020. These will include a mural and Tha Muthaship, a mobile healing and arts space nestled inside a repurposed 1970s Terry Travel Trailer. Based at Rung for Women, a nonprofit organization that promotes economic and social empowerment for women in St. Louis, Tha Muthaship brings visual art, mindfulness, healing, and wellness modalities to communities in St. Louis.
Sudduth’s mural practice works site responsively and work off of the immediate landscape as a source of inspiration/reference. Utilizing bright, bold and often fully-saturated colors while creating these works that promotes a sense of joy and healing are elements that are integral to this practice. Their mural Justice, a site-specific mural on the south side of the building at 2311 S Jefferson Avenue.
Tha Muthaship will be located at 2717 Sidney Street. Sound healing and meditation events will occur on April 29, May 13, and May 20 from 6–7 p.m.
PROGRAM INFO
ABOUT THE ARTIST
Simiya Sudduth is a mother, multidisciplinary artist, and art educator who maintains a fluid creative practice that explores the intersections of healing, wellness, ecology, social justice, and spirituality. Their expansive practice serves as a provocation for collective healing, and expansion in addition to serving as a vessel to explore their personal mental and emotional healing as well as a space to journey through the realms of spirituality. Simiya’s practice is a practice of integration, a way to explore and connect multifaceted interests and influences. In addition to maintaining their creative practice, Simiya is a full-time K-6 art educator.
