INTERVIEW WITH STEPHANIE CAMBA
January 27th, just a week after Trump takes office, Aliento has invited Stephanie Camba , AKA SoulTree CambaNationOfThings , to perform songs that explore the depth, nuance and intersectionality of human-undocumented experience.
We are excited to put on an event to raise consciousness in the state of Arizona through music and poetry and raise funds for the sustainability of Aliento. We hope that our event is a success and we can create a series to continue inviting artist to perform in Arizona. Please consider donating.
“ My purpose in life is to create out of a deep love and I hope to grow and deepen that love through what I witness and experience with Aliento.”
ABOUT THE ARTIST
Soultree is a creator and community collaborator rooted in love and liberation. Born Stephanie Camba, Soultree’s poetry, stories, songs, and spirit supports moveMeants locally and transnationally. Born in the Philippines and raised in the Marshall Islands, Soultree is a cultural Cambanationofthangs. Her family migrated to the U.S. one week after 9/11 as fears of food and water shortage spread throughout the island forcing her family to make the decision of leaving and expiring their visas.
Soultree collaborates with social justice, cultural, and creative based organizations and individuals across the country who recognize that our struggles are interconnected. With a background in family and labor studies, she believes in family as a necessary unit of resistance and that all labor should be honored and lifted, including emotional and mental labor. She transfers the lessons she has learned from her experience in political organizing, working with immigration and juvenile justice law, and simply living an undocumented queer Pilipinx life into all that she does with the intention that our world grows deeper in truth and humanity.
What motivates you to collaborate with Aliento?
I believe in art as a tool for healing and liberation, but I also believe in art specifically by undocumented people with, for, and of undocumented people. I feel strongly about our collaboration as a way of bridging stories and connecting healing across communities in order to sustain our work and defy notions that art and healing is simply supplementary to moveMeant. Art has been my way of healing and survival through my undocumented experience, so I am very honored to work with an organization like Aliento and hope to share art as an accessible medium for liberation for all communities, especially those being targeted by state violence.
What are you hoping to contribute to Aliento?
I am hoping to share my nuanced experience and perspective as an undocumented Pilipinx, national of the Marshall Islands who connects through spirit, song, poetry, and all forms and expressions available to me in a way that is personal, meaningful, and honest. I hope to foster a relationship and inspire exchanges/ideas/processes that goes beyond this event and into people’s daily lives and practices.
What are you hoping to receive from your experience with Aliento?
I am just really looking forward to connecting with Aliento organizers and members in real life because what they have created and are creating is something that I have always dreamed for our community. My purpose in life is to create out of a deep love and I hope to grow and deepen that love through what I witness and experience with Aliento.
What will your experience with Aliento consist of?
I will be performing at Fair Trade Cafe in collaboration with Reyna. I will meet with Aliento participants and other local community organizers and organizations to lead workshops and hold an open mic creative night. I may also be visiting Eloy detention center with Aliento and other organizations with a potential vigil/sharing of story and song outside of the facility.
We hope that our event is a success and we can create a series to continue inviting artist to perform in Arizona. Please support our cause, share this on facebook and of course, come to the event- Friday Evening, January 27th at Fair Trade Cafe.