Suga' with Bundle of Sticks: Black Queer Identity, Gender Freedom, and Healing Through Art

I'm so glad to welcome back Dazié Grego-Sykes and Derrick Miller-Handley of Bundle of Sticks Art Collective for a conversation about their upcoming performance ritual, Suga'. This art collective has spent over 25 years exploring the intersection of Blackness and queerness through performance art, visual art, and community building — and their newest work may be their most personal yet.

Suga' is an immersive performance ritual in which Derrick steps into the performer role for the first time in over 20 years, using art as a vehicle for gender identity exploration, radical self-acceptance, and spiritual healing. We talk about what it means to exist outside of society's containers, the power of Black ancestry as a spiritual resource, and why embracing your authentic self is an act of liberation.

If you're in the Bay Area, Suga' runs May 29–31 at Eastside Arts Alliance in Oakland. Find tickets by searching Suga' on Eventbrite.

Topics Covered:

[0:47] Introducing Bundle of Sticks Art Collective
[4:19] The intersection of Blackness, queerness, visual art, and performance
[6:00] Trust, safety, and creative collaboration
[10:13] What is Suga' — and why call it a ritual?
[13:47] The many meanings of the word "Suga'"
[16:53] "Suga' in your tank" — reclaiming a slur as a source of power
[22:03] The immersive space: artifacts, ancestry, and performance
[26:17] The tension — and natural harmony — between Blackness and queerness
[31:08] Gender identity, legibility, and refusing society's containers
[37:59] How Suga' came to be and why now
[54:44] Why this work matters in today's political and social climate
[59:32] Tickets and show details

Find Tickets to Suga'

Bundle of Sticks website

Art Heals All Wounds website

Support the show