Sonya Renee Taylor
| Sonya Renee Taylor | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| Nationality | American |
| Genre | Poetry |
| Notable works | The Body Is Not An Apology |
Sonya Renee Taylor is an author, poet, spoken word artist, speaker, humanitarian and social justice activist, educator, and founder of The Body is Not An Apology movement. Taylor has won multiple National and International poetry slams, including the 2004 U.S. National Individual Poetry Slam competition, the 2005 DC/Baltimore Grand Slam competition, the 2007 Ill List III Slam competition, the 2006 Four Continents International Slam competition and has performed for audiences across the US, New Zealand, Australia, England, Scotland, Sweden, Canada and the Netherlands, including in prisons, mental health treatment facilities, homeless shelters, universities, festivals and public schools across the globe. She is an African-American woman who identifies as queer.
While hip hop is traditionally thought of in terms of music, graffiti, break dancing, and deejaying it also includes other creative forms like film, spoken word, autobiographies, literature and journalism. Hip hop began as a creative way to express complicated emotions surrounding the experience of being marginalized and oppressed, and as a source of activism. The notions of claiming space for the self and one's community and expressing your agency through having a voice and opinions are central themes in the creation of hip hop. Hip hop has roots in African traditions and art, incorporating rhythms and storytelling, using a combination of the human voice and instruments. Spoken word specifically is a "deeply rooted tradition that has manifested itself in a stream of poets that have served as clarifiers of the 'ultimate realities' that Black people face."
In her work, Taylor sets out telling a story that makes the reader or listener wonder and question about the meaning of the work, challenging their understanding of the themes or topics they just took in. She has written articles about the intersections of race and gender on the topic of body positivity,critiquing the current ideas society has around the movement, making it more inclusive and claiming space for those who have been noticeably left out of the conversation.
"Our society tells us fatness is not beautiful. Blackness is not beautiful. So even while reclaiming size diversity as beautiful, the presence of Blackness complicates the narrative...It is this unwillingness to wade through the murky waters of race that make Black and Brown women invisible even in the places where we say we are trying to make people seen."
...
Wikipedia