Natasha Marin is MIKO KURO
HER SUPER-POWERS INCLUDE: Being a Black, Woman Artist, Writer, & Mother of Two.
HER WRITTEN WORK: has been translated into several languages and has been showcased in exhibitions, performances and events around the world.
HER DEBUT COLLECTION: MILK, explores what it means to be nurtured in the Digital Age.
Natasha has been published in periodicals like the Feminist Studies Journal, African American Review, and the Caribbean Writer and has received grants from the City of Austin, Artist Trust, the CD Forum, and the City of Seattle for her community projects involving text-based, visual, performance, and multimedia art. She is more popular on the internet than she is in "real life" and co-founded the Seattle People of Color Salon or "SPoCS"—live long and prosper. LISTEN
Grants & Fellowships
2014 The City of Seattle Office of Arts & Cultural Affairs, Red Lineage
2012 Artist Trust Grants for Artist Projects, MILK
2012 Artist Trust EDGE Professional Development Program for Literary Artists
2011 The City of Seattle Office of Arts & Cultural Affairs, Miko Kuro’s Midnight Tea
2007 City of Austin Cultural Funding, Graduate-Level Graffiti
2007 Cave Canem Fellowship
2006 Affrilachian Poets Fellowship
2003 James Michener Fellowship, University of Texas at Austin
MIKO KURO'S MIDNIGHT TEA
“Miko Kuro’s Midnight Tea is like a poem ... like a poem come to life.”
This video features several different Miko Kuro's Midnight Tea events. In December 2012, the Midnight Team of 12 artists (from all over the world) devoted 12 hours to a ritual collaboration with local artists in Mumbai, India that crossed the city beginning at the Tao Art Gallery and concluding at the Lakeeren Gallery.
After finishing her graduate studies in English Literature & Creative Writing at the University of Texas at Austin, Marin began studying the traditional Japanese tea ceremony (urasenke school) with Suzuki Sensei in Austin, TX. Aesthetically, this practice of reverence and beauty inspired her to create her own hybrid-- blending the silent austerity of chado with the practiced chaos of Caribbean Carnival culture. In 2008, she began hosting Midnight Teas for intimate groups at her studio in Vancouver, BC. Since then, this project has traveled around the world-- and over 500 artists have participated in over 36 individual events ranging from 3 to 24 hours. Every Midnight Tea is a fully-interactive collaborative endeavor using Time, Tea, and Technology to bring about Genuine Encounters.
2016
Self-care Ritual for Women | Taipei, Taiwan (with Jodi Thompson)
Self-care Ritual for Women | Seoul, Korea (with Laura Wachs)
2015
A Season of Contentment | Phnom Penh, Cambodia - FUNDED! THANK YOU!
#GRRLJZZ | Berlin, Germany - $2000 fundraising goal