Episode One: Sacred Waters, Returning to Our Natural Flow offers expansive praxis for a calling to calmness, to flowing slowly as we dive into the depths of our dialogue, and our ancestral soul's water baggage.

This episode features Somos Semillas collaborators: Nicky & Cat of We Rise Production, and Erika of Sanadora Práctica Creativa.

Through multimedia, digital and live productions, We Rise Production challenges audiencesto think critically about the systems that oppress us all, and uses art to inspire active solidarity.We vision for the future with empathy and intellectual rigor. ​We move with ancestors and future generations in mind, knowing that it is our responsibilityto be accountable to our communities. Creative collaboration and storytelling are our methodsfor disseminating knowledge. These offerings are intended to help us remember what colonization tries to erase and to inspire change, big and small, loud and subtle.We ride the cusp of what our ancestors have known and what remains unknown,what has been done in acts of bravery and brilliance, and what we are capable of creating.

Catherine Duval Petru aka Cat (she/her) is a queer Jewish cultural producer born & raised in Huchiun, Ohlone land known to many as Oakland, California.
Influenced by this land at the epicenter of the Black Panther Party for Self-Defense, and the survivor spirit of her paternal grandmother, Cat’s pulse beats for our freedom movements. A dancer & pollinator, Cat brings whimsy & focus to supporting artists, educators, organizations, activists & visionaries tell stories that nourish our imaginations for collective liberation.
​As co-founder & co-director of We Rise Production, Cat brings her experience as an audio producer (trained at KPFA Radio’s community-based First Voice Apprenticeship Program in Berkeley), as well as her knack for writing & passions for accessibility & facilitation, to all her collaborations.

NICOLE GERVACIO (she/they) is an interdisciplinary artist based in Huchiun, occupied Ohlone territory also known as Oakland, California. Their parents and grandparents immigrated from Luzon and the Bisayan islands.
Inspired by bodies and memory, her work explores identity, permanence versus impermanence, and is often driven by a fear of forgetting – a response to the colonization, silencing, and invisiblization of their communities as well as many others under U.S. imperialism. nicole aims to heal the cultural & historical amnesia we inherited from the ongoing violence of colonialism that harms people, beings, and land and has us facing multiple crises today.
The responsibility and purpose of being an artist is a dance she navigates by dreaming and creating with ancestors and future generations in mind. nicole has been a collaborator of Liberation Spring since 2016 and is the co-founder and co-director the cultural production collective We Rise - both continue to deepen her work as an artist and activist. NicoleGervacio.com

Erika Murcia a Poet, and editor. Daughter of Mesoamerican diaspora. Co-author of the anthology Mamahood Sovereignty, a collection of essays on how womxn embody our Creativity. I created the Sanadora Práctica Creativa classroom honoring Native Mesoamerican teachings to support children of the global diaspora's healing journeys through Breastfeeding their Creative Praxis. As a human, I enjoy dancing, hugging trees, and drinking high-quality coffee. Now I walk my talk in Mesoamerica and wherever Earth Mother calls my heart.

LINKS

Episode transcript: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1M0o-ttGzuIIqQCmiSXj7l-U0e1sTIdKHCjuGr-Z2i1Y/edit?usp=sharing

Sumergirse by La Clave de Sol: https://open.spotify.com/artist/2NvLWNh9sNxdDhnFCkAOQ1?si=ajZr2gDlTga52lQA09NzuA & on IG @la.clave.de.sol

Connect with us at weriseproduction[at]protonmail[dot]me, and follow us on Facebook & Instagram at weriseproduction, & on twitter at WeRiseProducers.

Connect with Erika Murcia at https://linktr.ee/Mujeryselva