KESSWA explores afro surrealist soundscapes across genres on this continuum of alternate realities. On this sonic journey you’ll encounter a collage of house, electro, r&b, soul and hip hop, featuring Detroit based and affiliated artists, as well as some unreleased tracks from KESSWA.

KESSWA, is an interdisciplinary artist from Detroit, Michigan. As a vocalist, producer, and music curator, her work integrates performance, sound, light, music and mantra. Her most recent work, “Is My Mind A Machine Gun?” premiered on the MOCAD’sNew Media platform, Daily Rush.

She has performed in support of avant-garde black artists such as Sudan Archives, The Sun Ra Arkestra, River Spirit, Rashaad Newsome, and Sterling Toles at institutions such as The Cleveland Art Museum, The University of Michigan Museum of Art, and the Detroit Institute of Arts. Her musical work has scored films such as Ahya Simone’s “Femme Queen Chronicles”, and Jamil McGinnis and Pat Heywood’s “Gramercy”. Her collaborations include; Allied Media Conference’s 2020 Opening Ceremony with featured artist Esperanza Spalding, “Got Flicked (The Rebirth)” of Boldy James and Sterling Toles’ “The Manger” album, and an upcoming project with renowned music producer and percussionist, Shigeto.

alternate realities is a monthly segment hosted by black beyond

black beyond is a platform for experimental artists and activists to define alternate realities for Blackness. black beyond subverts space, allowing Black people and co-liberators to decolonize and re-indigenize social infrastructures. It interrogates understandings of Blackness outside the limitations imposed by the racist imaginary, through afro-pessimism, afro-nowism, and afro-futurism.

black beyond silences echo chambers and uplifts voices of the unheard. Allowing progressive topics which pertain to the ‘future’ to escape institutional corridors, becoming more accessible to the communities we intend to serve.