The Lo-Down Culture Cast

Hannah Traore

Kicking off our next series of interviews with culture changers in downtown New York is our conversation with gallery Founder and Director Hannah Traore. She's an up and comer in the NY art and fashion scene who's been widely recognized for taking "old guard" gallery owners to task, especially when it comes to artist representation. Host Traven Rice spoke with her about putting down roots in the neighborhood, becoming involved in the community and what she looks for when deciding to feature boundary-pushing artists in her space on Orchard Street.
One of Hannah's early shows, "Beghairati Ki Nishaani: Traces of Shamelessness, a solo exhibition of work by Misha Japanwala," featured a bold new collection of the young Pakistani artist's breast plates and custom nipple moldings. Japanwala molds the body to create casts that are worn as sculptural garments, and notes that her "practice is an insistence for marginalized bodies to occupy physical space, emphasizing the notion that our bodies shouldn’t need to prove anything other than being allowed to simply exist."
Hannah's most recent show, "Chella Man: It Doesn't Have to Makes Sense," features the 25-year old deaf, trans, bi-cultural artist, Chella Man, and was his first solo show in New York.
Hannah Traore Gallery, located at 150 Orchard Street, opened just over two years ago. It is a space "committed to advocating for and celebrating artists who have been  historically marginalized from the mainstream narrative. Whether underrepresented, overlooked, or  exploited, HTG is building a path forward to share their extraordinary visions with the world." 
Born and raised in Toronto, Hannah Traore developed an affinity for art and an appreciation for diverse  perspectives from a young age. Her mother, an art collector and fiber artist, infused art into every part of  her life while her father, a Malian immigrant, immersed her in his culture, which introduced her to issues of representation in the art world  and beyond.
Hannah was recently included in the 2023 "Forbes 30 under 30" list in Art & Style and Apollo Magazine’s 2023 "40 under 40" USA list. 

Niki Russ Federman

Host Traven Rice speaks with Niki Russ Federman for episode 11 of The Lo-Down Culture Cast. She's the 4th generation co-owner of the esteemed appetizing shop, Russ & Daughters.
Known for the best bagels, lox, herring, caviar babka and other traditional baked goods and smoked fish in New York City, the landmark shop has been in the same location at 179 East Houston Street since 1914.
Russ & Daughters was the first small business in the country to add "& Daughters" to its name and ownership.
Federman and her cousin, Josh Russ Tupper, took over the family business in 2009. They opened their first-ever sit-down cafe in 2014 and have now expanded to Brooklyn and the west side of Manhattan.
Rice and Federman discussed what it takes to turn an established shop, that was once considered common place, into what is now known as an iconic destination on the Lower East Side.

Michelle Myles

Host Traven Rice speaks with tattoo artist and historian Michelle Myles. Michelle started tattooing on the Lower East Side in the early 1990's, before it was legal. She opened Daredevil Tattoo in 1997 with her business partner, Brad Fink. Michelle was one of the first female tattoo artists around.
Brad has always been a collector. They ended up with so many interesting historical tattoo artifacts on hand, they created The Daredevil Tattoo Museum, which features artifacts amassed over the last 30+ years of tattooing. Tattoo flash, machines, and ephemera from the early roots of modern tattooing, which was established by sailors on the Bowery in the 1800's.
The shop is located on the border of the historic Lower East Side and Chinatown just a few blocks east of the Bowery and Chatham Square where O'Reilly, Charlie Wagner, Millie Hull and other legendary tattoo artists plied their trade. The museum is part of the tattoo shop and is viewable during regular business hours.
Michelle is now a licensed New York City tour guide and regularly hosts tattoo history walking tours of the Bowery which can be booked online through Airbnb experiences.

Joe DiNoto

This week we spoke to Orchard Street Runners Founder, Joe DiNoto. 
DiNoto created a weekly running group that has blossomed into an organization that is known globally for its creative, high intensity, late night (threshold pace) races that take place on the live streets of NYC.
A born and raised New Yorker, Joe DiNoto founded Orchard Street Runners after a successful yet unfulfilling career in architecture. Growing up, Joe spent his spare time helping his Dad out on his bread route, playing basketball, oil painting, and drawing. 
Today, his passion for running, design, and knack for bringing people together has enabled him to create a culture-driving NYC running community that emulates both the grit and energy of the city.
Entering OSR’s twelfth year, Joe’s creativity and background continues to permeate everything he does, and has led to a series of world-renowned, unsanctioned running races. 

Whitney Browne

Host Traven Rice speaks with Whitney Browne, an experimental and commercial photographer whose work explores themes of movement and gesture as reflections of mental states.
Best known for her involvement in the dance community, she currently works in New York City and Los Angeles.
She has spent the last decade developing her own experimental movement photography methods, working to build a visual language between photography and performance.
Browne joins host Traven Rice to talk about witnessing modern dance master Paul Taylor working with his dance troupe during the last years of his life, her many hours spent working with and documenting Ray and the people at Ray's Candy Shop in the East Village (which is now a book of portraits ready for a publisher) and photographing her own family, capturing them in the midst of movement - her grandmother, mother and sister are all dancers.
 

MM Serra

MM Serra joins host Traven Rice to talk about her career as an avant garde and experimental filmmaker. Serra has been based on the Lower East Side for over three decades. She is also an author, curator, and professor at Parsons at the New School. For 32 years, she was the Executive Director of the Film-Makers’ Cooperative, the world’s oldest and largest archive of independent film.
Serra has created over 34 films, and her first five films were preserved and digitized by Anthology Film Archives. In Fall 2010, Serra co-curated, Counter Culture, Counter Cinema: An Avant Garde Film Festival, a seven program, three day event at the Pacific Design Center with the Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles.
In 2007 - 2008, Serra was the curator of a six-part experimental film series titled “Cinema of the Unusual” at P.S.1 Contemporary Art Center.  Her film, Chop Off,premiered at the Sundance Film Festival and was screened at the Tribeca Film Festival and the Museum of Modern Art’s Documentary Fortnight Series in 2009. 
In 2021, her films were screened at various international festivals and venues, including a retrospective entitled MM Serra: Portraits curated by Devon Narine-Singh.

Nonhuman Teachers

Host Traven Rice speaks with the folks from Nonhuman Teachers, a new non-profit that takes a creative approach to ecological storytelling. 
Executive Director Christian Cummings, Events Coordinator Joey Valley and Board Director Sandeep Rangi spoke with host Traven Rice about the newly formed project that aims to help deepen the relationship between humans and the natural world.
The non-profit sprang out of their creative studio and Cactus Store based in LA. They opened an east coast Cactus Store here in the Lower East Side, which includes a seasonal greenhouse and gathering space at 5 Essex, next to the old Schames Paint Store, a few years ago.
Their events are always surprising and experiential, and the programming engages a wide array of people by offering creative ways to talk about ecology.

Yin Kong

Host Traven Rice speaks with Yin Kong, Director and Co-founder of Think!Chinatown. Yin is a community-based designer and curator living and working in Manhattan's Chinatown. Think!Chinatown is the culmination of her work in urban design, museum, culinary & cultural instruction, and community engagement. 
Think!Chinatown is an intergenerational non-profit based in Manhattan’s Chinatown, working at the intersection of storytelling, arts & neighborhood engagement.
Kong talked about different ways to envision the future of Chinatown, the upcoming Chinatown Arts Festival and expansive ways to hold space in the midst of rapid neighborhood change.

Alex Knowlton

Host Traven Rice speaks with Alex Knowlton, Director of Joe's Pub at The Public.
Joe’s Pub is an eclectic downtown cabaret space that was named for Public Theater founder Joseph Papp. Since it opened in 1998, Joe’s Pub has been supporting an array of artists at different stages of their careers, offering an intimate space to perform and develop new work.
They present a wide variety of live music, comedy and performance nightly. Knowlton was named Director in 2018, after being part of the Joe's Pub team since 2009.

Destiny Mata

Host Traven Rice speaks with photographer Destiny Mata for the latest episode of The Lo-Down Culture Cast.
Mata is a rising star who grew up in the neighborhood. She is a Mexican American photographer and filmmaker who focuses on issues of subculture and community.
After studying photojournalism at LaGuardia Community College and San Antonio College, she spent 2 years as Director of Photography Programs at the Lower East Side Girls Club.
Mata and has had work published and featured in The New York Times, The Nation, VICE, The Culture Crush, and Teen Vogue.
She recently led the LES : Free Film initiative, which we featured here.  It was a monthlong project offering free roles of film to local residents and students in the area. People interested in documenting their neighborhood were encouraged to pick up a free role of film distributed at an “Airstream-darkroom” parked outside the Lower Eastside Girl’s club this past spring. 
Mata also has an exhibition up on the fences at the Martin Luther King Jr. Garden as part of Photoville 2023. (In)Visible Guides connected her with residents of a Lower East Side shelter for domestic violence survivors to explore notions of memory, safety, and loss. The exhibition features photography taken by shelter residents.
Be sure to check out her work on Instagram here.