The Paint Mixers

Wired with a low-fi tape recorder, performance artist Damali Ayo visited hardware stores and asked employees to mix paint to match different parts of her body.

2004 / Damali Ayo / Dmae Roberts / Studio 360, USA

Wired with a low-fi tape recorder, performance artist Damali Ayo visited hardware stores and asked employees to mix paint to match different parts of her body.

Working in collaboration with producer Dmae Roberts, she turned these intimate recordings into this story.


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Damali Ayo

Damali Ayo's award-winning work has been shown at galleries across the world. She speaks to colleges, high schools, non-profits and communities in the U.S. and Canada about race, art, and eco-living. Damali and her work have been featured in over 100 publications worldwide including Harper's, the Village Voice, Salon, and CSPAN2's Book TV. Damali's book, How to Rent a Negro was granted a 2005 Honorable Mention in the Outstanding Book Awards from the Gustavus Meyers Center for the Study of Bigotry and Human Rights. Her radio work Living Flag: Panhandling for Reparations won a Silver Reel award from the National Federation of Community Broadcasters.

Dmae Roberts

Dmae Roberts is a two-time Peabody Award-winning radio artist and writer who has created groundbreaking personal, multicultural documentaries.


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