Sharmi Basu

Sound Artist and Activist

Sharmi Basu (they/them) is a multimedia performance artist, curator, composer, and executive director of Vital Arts, born and based in the unceded territories of Chochenyo Ohlone peoples, also known as Oakland, CA. They create sound and performance pieces that address vulnerability, accountability, and experiences of diaspora by creating new narratives for decolonial thinking toward individual and collective liberation. Their primary performance project, Beast Nest, shows us that the abstract and immaterial experiences of trauma can be transformed through the process of creation in art and sound. They believe that transcending the emotional landscape through active presence is the key to accessing multidimensionality and work with these ideas in their Sound and Liberation workshops, their curatorial projects, and their BIPOC improvisation group, the Mara Performance Collective.

They received their MFA from Mills College and host a number of workshops internationally that center on sound healing, decolonization, and conflict & accountability, as well as technical skill-shares. They have performed for SFMOMA, YBCA, San Francisco Electronic Music Festival, Cluster Festival, Ableton Loop, the International Symposium of Improvised Music, Soundwave SF, Human Resources LA, and many other spaces throughout the United States, Canada, and Europe. They have exhibited work at Coaxial, Southern Exposure, SOMArts, Counterpulse, Gray Area, and the Smithsonian. They are currently a research resident at the Kitchen in NY and an Emerging Arts Fellow in San Francisco. Their work on Decolonizing Sound has been taught at universities internationally at institutions such as Brown University in the US and Goldsmiths College in the UK. They are a certified mediator focused on interpersonal healing within Queer and Trans BIPOC communities, and are on the board of a number of organizations including Safer DIY Spaces, Bay Area Girls Rock Camp, Soundwave SF, and California FM. They co-founded the first-ever Bay Area Black and Brown Punk Festival, the Multiverse is Illuminated, and are currently an arts administrator at Southern Exposure in San Francisco. They are the Executive Director of Ratskin Records, an archival imprint championing decolonial artists in the Bay Area. The majority of their organizational work is dedicated to providing resources, mutual aid, and moments of joy to queer and Trans BIPOC.

Their ultimate goal through their work is to cultivate a sense of empowerment for themself and their community.