Isa Benn

"Isa Benn (née Isa Benn-Moja Atiyyah) is an award-winning filmmaker, screenwriter, playwright, multimedia artist and creator. She approaches each project with a sensitivity and perspective that is as resonant as it is unique. In light of several highly visual sensory "handicaps", including autism spectrum disorder, synesthesia and ideasthesia, she has found a mode of exploring the human experiences that is unparalleled. Isa is uniquely able to connect to and penetrate her audience's emotional barriers and facilitate a collective cognitive experience that leaves audiences feeling connected, healed and with greater awareness of a world outside of themselves. Moreover, Isa draws upon her experience as a Jewish North and West African, Caribbean, Arawak/Taíno/Latinx and Queer woman to create stylistically introspective works that shed a harsh light on the racism, colonization, colorism, ableism and attacks on queer bodies that are rampant in North American society. Isa's art is not a static experience; it is an intimate exploration of pain, suffering, joy and the absurd nature of white fragility. She is endowed with the ability to create meaning in a variety of palettes; she can enlighten her audience while simultaneously giving voice to the painful parts of themselves they have long since buried. To say that her art is impactful is to do it a disservice and underestimates the transformative nature of her offering; which is consistent in its innate spirituality, intellect and emotional force. In essence, Isa's art is able to transcend the human experience and remind us of the spirituality that defines us."