Vessels of Revolution: Akinsanya Kambon on Art & Liberation [re-air episode cut]

Synopsis:  From his early days as an illustrator for the Black Panther Party to winning the prestigious Mohn Award in 2023, artist Akinsanya Kambon has been using art to amplify marginalized voices and tell stories of resilience.

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Description: With each glimmering piece he creates, artist Akinsanya Kambon brings suppressed histories of both colonization and liberation to life. His ceramic works depict struggle and survival across the African diaspora, and stepping into his studio is a spiritual experience, as Laura Flanders recently discovered. Kambon was a member of the Sacramento chapter of the Black Panther Party where he worked on the layout and illustration of the party’s famous paper and became lieutenant for culture, illustrating among other things the party’s ten point plan and works for young people. In 2023, he won the prestigious Mohn Award — the top prize given by the Hammer Museum for his participation in their biennial “Made in LA” show, titled Acts of Living. His one-man show opened in Beverly Hills at Marc Selwyn Fine Art in April 2025. An exhibition of his work will open at the New York Sculpture Center in May 2026. In this unique conversation, Flanders asks Kambon about his own survival stories, including his polio diagnosis, getting drafted into the Vietnam War, and his year on death row. Kambon was arrested in connection with the killing of a police officer and was later acquitted from that high-profile Oak Park Four case. Join Flanders and Kambon as they discuss how art keeps spirits alive, and catch Flanders’ commentary on today’s fight to control our nation’s stories.

“Art educates the masses of people. Not Black or white or Asian, this educates the masses of young people to our struggle, to how long they're struggling and how it's connected.” - Akinsanya Kambon

“I thought of myself as an artist even when I was a child, because art was therapy for me . . . I used to always seem like I would always take the side of the underdog.” - Akinsanya Kambon

Guest:  Akinsanya Kambon, Artist, Former Marine, Black Panther & Art Professor

Additional Credits:

Additional Crew:  Marco Amador, Producciones Cimarrón 

Clips from the documentary short- "Akinsanya Kambon The Hero Avenges," Produced by The Hammer Museum;  Directed by Gabriel Noguez and Sean Rowry.

Special thanks: Cynthia Wornham, Annie Philbin, Marc Selwyn Fine Art 

Full Conversation Release: While our weekly shows are edited to time for broadcast on Public TV and community radio, we offer to our members and podcast subscribers the full uncut conversation. These audio exclusives are made possible thanks to our member supporters.

Watch the special report on YouTube; PBS World Channel September 5th, and on over 300 public stations across the country (check your listings, or search here via zipcode). Listen: Episode airing on community radio September 10th  (check here to see if your station is airing the show) & available as a podcast.

Full Episode Notes are located HERE.

-Related Podcast:  Uncut Conversation with Akinsanya Kambon, Artist, Former Marine, Black Panther & Art Professor

RESOURCES:
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Related Articles and Resources:

• Akinsanya Kambon exhibit for ‘Made in L.A. 2023: Acts of Living’ the Hammer Museum’s biennial exhibition highlighting the practices of artists working throughout the greater Los Angeles area

• Akinsanya Kambon Receives $100,000 John Award, Made in L.A. Biennial’s Top Prize Honors Artistic Excellence, by Victoria L. Walntine, December 12, 2023, Culture Type

•  Akinsanya Kambon’s exhibition April 17-May31, 2025 at Marc Selwyn Fine Art

•. 10 Shows to see in Los Angeles May 2025, by Matt Stromberg, May 1, 2025 Hyperallergic

• Upcoming Akinsanya Kambon Exhibitions: He will be featured in a solo exhibition represented by Ortuza Projects in collaboration with Marc Selwyn Fine Art during Frieze New York in May 2026, and concurrent with a solo exhibition at the New York Sculpture Center.  Art Media Agency

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