TRUTH (I am you)

TRANSFORMATION (you are me)

RECONCILIATION (I am because you are)

Join Harlem Wellness Center on the High Line for Sounds of Justice – Ubuntu, an inspiring afternoon dedicated to the rhythms of change and racial healing. This event highlights the voices of historically marginalized communities, using art, music, and mindfulness to foster understanding and unity. The term “Ubuntu,” a Bantu word meaning “I am because we are,” underscores the interconnectedness of shared humanity.

The Sounds of Justice event will showcase three powerful musical performances, each embodying the tenets of racial healing: Truth, Transformation, and Reconciliation. Attendees will experience the unifying force of music: a diverse lineup of independent artists will share their unique cultural perspectives through song, sound sculpture, drumming, and storytelling. In addition to these vibrant performances, participants can explore a book table offering resources for further education and community engagement. The event also features a meditative labyrinth walk, symbolizing inner transformation and envisioning a more equitable world. Sounds of Justice – Ubuntu promises an afternoon of reflection, connection, and inspiration for all who attend.

Curated by Talia Fuchs, Sounds of Justice – Ubuntu will feature work and performances by Sansa Aria, Shara Lunon, Nathan Chamberlain, and Sarah Rossy. This event is open to all ages.

This program is part of the High Line’s Call for Ideas, an initiative that takes inspiration from the grassroots, community-driven history of the High Line to bring partner programs to life in the park.

In case of rain, this event will be relocated to the covered Coach Passage at 30th Street and 10th Avenue. In the event of extreme weather, this program may be canceled for the health and safety of our visitors and staff. If a cancellation is necessary, Eventbrite registrants will be notified via email and we will post an update on our website and @highlinenyc’s X feed.

About Harlem Wellness Center
Harlem Wellness Center’s Racial Healing Hub produces mindfulness and arts-based events, involving interactive stations that promote reflection and critical thinking, beloved community building workshops, skillfully curated conversations on race, public and natural space use, panels, art making, and multidisciplinary arts as vehicles to activate deep listening, understanding, compassion, and authentic connection within diverse groups of people. Their approach follows a sequential path of exploration on personal, relational/community, and global levels. “Othering” is confronted by illuminating our values around shared humanity, inherent dignity, and interdependence.

The Hub recognizes the power of art to inform, inspire, and call to action. Toni Morrison’s following quote speaks to the Racial Healing Hub’s use of art: “This is precisely the time when artists go to work. There is no time for despair, no place for self-pity, no need for silence, no room for fear. We speak, we write, we do language. That is how civilizations heal.”

Performer Bios

SHARA LUNON (she/they) is the product of the evolution of Black American musical traditions. As a transdisciplinary artist, her art finds the ethereal in the chaotic. With voice and electronics as the foundation, Lunon’s art is a synthesis of text, sound, objects, and the underground. Her goal is to challenge lassitude and in its place, instill hope. Lunon’s work has been featured in The Gothamist, commissioned by Metropolis Ensemble, MATA Festival, and has won residencies with OneBeat Fellowship, Papillion Farm, and Audiofemme. Lunon has collaborated with artists including Fay Victor, Ches Smith, Shahzad Ismaily, Darius Jones, Chris Williams, Lesley Mok, and Luke Stewart. Currently, she is working on releasing two projects with her quartet History Dog, and punk band Blasé.

NATHAN CHAMBERLAIN (he/him) is a Coahuiltecan guitarist, curator, and composer who is based out of Brooklyn, NY. Chamberlain’s work actively engages the decolonization of jazz and improvised music, joining a tradition rooted in resistance towards white supremacy. Ken Waxman of jazzword.com has described Chamberlain’s playing as a “break through the commonplace for a memorable experience.” Chamberlain’s curatorial work centers on highlighting artists and bandleaders from BIPOC and queer communities, contributing to the fracture of gatekeeping barriers for marginalized groups. Currently, Chamberlain organizes the improvised music series “ice pop” in the NYC area.

SARAH ROSSY (she/they) is a Lebanese-Canadian multidisciplinary artist based in Tio’tia:ke/Montréal whose work blends jazz, experimental electronics, and visual projections into ethereal soundscapes that are both autobiographical and socially conscious. Sarah’s artistic practice has a core of music and sound, but has fluidly expanded out to incorporate interdisciplinary movement and visual projections. Mentorship with Meredith Monk, explorations of cultural heritage at the Arabic Music Retreat, ancestral research with the Arrivals Legacy Workshop, and residencies at Banff Centre, were all formative experiences which live and breathe in Sarah’s work. Sarah’s rich collaborative history includes recordings with Patrick Watson, Thanya Iyer, John Hollenbeck, NO COSMOS, Aaron Dolman, Jack Broza, and many more.

TALIA FUCHS (she/her) New York City born vocalist, interdisciplinary performer, composer, and improviser. Trained in the dramatic arts and dance from a young age, her knowledge of stagecraft is inextricably tied to her embodied, theatrical vocal practice. As a performer, she is equally at home in 21st century classical and creative-experimental jazz, she has premiered concert works, operatic roles, and performed in improvised music ensembles across the U.S. and Canada. As a composer, she draws from her experiences as a performer and collaborator to examine issues of identity and belonging. Through examining her own cultural heritage and storytelling traditions, current socio-economic issues, she pushes against the ideas of categorization and genre. Talia made her compositional debut at Montreal’s Nuit Blanche Festival in 2021, and has performed in concert series such as Suoni per il Popolo and No Hay Banda in Montreal.

SANISA ARIA is an arts worker and musician who currently lives in New York. Born in Muscat, Oman, Aria has spent most of their life migrating and singing. The linguistic and botanical poetics of these experiences animate their work. A focal point of their interest lies in intercultural symbols and the idea that music is an abstraction of cultural language. Currently, Aria is producing and contributing to sound design for a play in Portland, Oregon.

Photo consent:
By attending this event, you agree that photos and/or video footage of you may be taken, and you grant your permission to Friends of the High Line and its agents/licensees to use such photos/footage for promotional and other purposes.

Accessibility:
We encourage all persons with disabilities to attend. To request additional information regarding accessibility or accommodations at a program, please contact email here programs@thehighline.org. Program venues are accessible via wheelchair, and ASL interpretation can be arranged two weeks in advance.

Instruction is in English but speakers of all languages can still participate and enjoy this event due to the movement and musical-based nature of the program. Interpretation is not available for this program.