Atlanta Contemporary hosts a session of mindfulness-based activities to inspire awareness, creativity, and healing for everyone.

This installment of Meditate + Create will be lead by Hannah Joy with guest Kalimba Edwards.

Supply List - your preferred artistic medium (i.e paint, collage, etc)

“As within, so without,” goes the saying, and during a time of heightened collective stress, anxiety, and fear, Atlanta Contemporary strives to be a beacon of hope and inspiration. We are partnering with meditation instructors, artists, sound-healers, and more, to support the community in a healthy and insightful way. We hope that your hearts will be open to receiving these gifts and that you may ease into a brighter future. And, if you know someone who may benefit from these sessions, please do not hesitate to share the love.

This virtual event will be streamed via Zoom.

Watching via Zoom
Viewers can watch via Zoom. Zoom participants can join in via audio, video, and text chat during the open conversation portion of the lecture. Register here for the meeting and receive a link to join when it begins. Zoom participants are capped at 100 people.

Zoom Conversation guide

First-time users can watch this video on how to join a Zoom meeting.

  • Zoom viewers will enter the conversation with audio and video muted. Please stay muted until the open conversation portion. We promise we want to talk to you!
  • Start by introducing yourself with your name and pronouns.
  • We are here to grow and learn! Be open to different styles and areas of knowledge.
  • Share the floor – Be conscious of others joining in with questions and comments.

Bios

Hannah Joy

Hannah is an artist of Indian heritage based in Atlanta, GA. She aims to inspire healing through self awareness via her meditative practice and artistic creations. Hannah practices Vipassana meditation, which is the cultivation of “seeing reality as it is,” and teaches the foundation of the technique to those who are willing to receive this seed. She began meditating 3 years ago and dwelled within the monastic setting of the Southeast Vipassana Center in Jesup, GA, for a year both volunteering and growing her practice. Since experiencing the immense benefits of a consistent meditative practice, she adopted complementary habit patterns, including yoga, therapeutic art, and tapping. Hannah continuously aspires to heal and grow herself while inspiring others to do the same introspection and evolution of their inner landscape.

Her artistic body is inspired by her flame of self-awareness developed in meditation with notes of her Indian heritage. She typically utilizes ink on paper and mixed media in a process-focused style of working; i.e. prioritizing the creative experience rather than a specific outcome. Currently, Hannah hopes to share both her creative and meditative processes with humanity through the lens of hope and healing.

Kalimba Edwards

Born and raised in Atlanta Ga, I attended a historic “black” private elementary school named Haugabrooks Academy. My father being a university professor, PHD, saw the value of a quality education and insisted upon my mother for me to attend. A love child of my parents, though they were separated, raised me in wonderful spirit, with my mother being the primary caretaker. The early private school education set a more than solid foundation for my future academia of which I stand upon to this day.

Raised in “what is considered” an impoverished black ghetto, my mother and her family showed me so much love and compassion that it wasn’t until I was of age that I even recognized my poverty, or the stance that the straight haired albinoid brothers and sisters of the world - and especially the southern United States - took against me due to my melanation. In short, my childhood was phenomenal, setting upon my heart a well spring of impenetrable optimism.

When the crack epidemic hit in the late 80’s early 90’s, it ravaged impoverished melanated communities due to young men and women’s severe contempt of not having; taking up the selling of drugs within the community, as a means to cure the lack of material have, turned our ghetto and those across America upside down. Drug addiction and violence ran amuck in said communities as I experienced first hand. My house being shot up by angry drug dealers looking for my cousin, their drug dealing partner, who I assumed betrayed them, prompted my father to come down from North Carolina and take me to live with him until things blew over. As a result I spent my middle school years in North Carolina with the old Man.

Returning to Atlanta for high school and being a stellar athlete, I received football scholarship offers from every major university in the nation, and I chose the University of South Carolina. Showing exemplary skills on the college level led to me being drafted into the National Football League in 2001. Playing for 7 years until 2008, I was forced to retire due to an injury. Retiring at the extremely young age of 28, I found myself studying food health benefits and the plethora of ancient holy myths. This led me to the space of which I stand today: me becoming a raw vegan and my life dedicated to the practice of Vipassana meditation and raising two young women.

RSVP

Location

This event will be live streamed via Zoom. Register for the Zoom meeting and receive a link to join when it begins.


Upcoming Events

April 27 / 2:00pm
Special Event

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April 28 / 12:00pm
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Contemporary Kids

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A free and interactive family-friendly program, Contemporary Kids introduces children to contemporary art and artists through approachable media and hands-on activities.

May 2 / 6:30pm
Activity

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Sit amongst the art and follow the flow and movement of the choreographers as you hone your drawing skills.

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