Brandt Maina | RIOA wa RIOE (he/they)

 

is a Portland-based abstRact and absuRdist artist, writer, and performer from Nairobi, Kenya.

 

In the month of the year of our Lard,

May 2020, 

they graduated with a BFA in Acting and Vocal Performance from Taylor University,

a small conservative Christian University in rural Indiana.

 

Simply stated,

with a background in the arts, and fresh memories of being homeless in downtown Portland, Brandt is a tenderly traumatized queer who brings a strong collaborative spirit and gentle tenacity to ensure that every voice is heard

(PAEriodt)

 

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Currently,

right at this very moment,

they are working to produce a tv pilot for a series on their postmodern experience of the American Dream, composing music for their Greco-African experience, Dionysian Rites, working to produce their two plays: Occasionally Other People Come In and The Blooming CHAOS if a Hot Summer,  work-shopping a short scene, Bard, Bird, developing their album, “she broke my G string”,

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all the while, 
RIOA wa RIOE is

slowly releasing more than 8 collections/series of artwork documenting their experience as an immigrant applying for asylum status over the past year and a half,

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July 2021 to...

RIGHT HERE, RIGHT NOW

RIGHT HERE, RIGHT NOW

Once more

 

I got it

And that,

right there,

is Good News

 

Brandt is also taking a health equity class with Oregon Health Equity Alliance and advocating for at-risk and homeless youth and Our Experiences. They are co-organizing a financial literacy resource workbook for fellow African Immigrants and Refugees

 

 

In diffusion, when the opportunity presents itself, they love to share stories with new friends over cups of tea

 

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