The Living Altar Artist Statement

The Living Altar is the ritual & performance art project of multimedia artists & community witches, Kiki Robinson & Ylva Mara Radziszewski. We feel that the work of the Witch is to disrupt and transform the circumstances of culture. The work of the artist is to document and synthesize the potential of these disruptions & transformations. We work with ritual, performance, collage, installation, curation as community ritual and workshop facilitation to create practical invitations for collective exploration of magic and creativity. Our ritual art deck, The Living Altar Oracle Deck, is a tool to tend our relationship with magic. Our altar installation work is an invitation for reflection on how personal rituals impact our relationships in life. Our Community Grimoire explores the power of witchcraft when channeled through social media & advanced technology. We are queer & trans witches of Romani heritage co-creating multi-media, multi-dimensional, multi-timeline ritual art through short film, soundscapes, & altar installations. In collaboration with the spirits of creativity, we weave spells of healing through our art making. The spells we invoke are intended to ripple through community and our collective to inspire and spark change and movement. Through magical activism we devote through our altars a ritual of liberation, and define feminism in a way that uplifts liberation for all. As American Roma who benefit from privilege rooted in colorism and assimilation, we also commit to a personal tending of this disruption and dismantling within ourselves. The work we facilitate through The Living Altar is a collaboration with community, ancestor, and each other; to be interacted with, built upon, and shared. We view art, like magic, as an altar of catalytic reflection and the energy of its creation and witness as a salve for collective healing.

About Kiki & Ylva

Kiki Robinson | they/them - she/her |

Kiki Robinson | they/them |
I am a multi-media artist, tarot reader, and healing arts practitioner. I am a queer and non-binary practicing witch of traditional magic, my altar is centered in sovereignty, justice and compassion. My ancestral background is Irish, British Isles and Romani. My first love of magic came through art of many mediums including printmaking, dance and performance art, and my intention is to embody healing and magic through my Creative Spirit. I live on unceded traditional lands of the Multnomah, Kathlamet, Clackamas, Tualatin, Kalapuya, Molalla, and bands of Chinook, now called Portland, OR. My work in the world involves assisting in healing and liberation within collective, disrupting systems of oppression, and bringing forth transformation through creative modalities. I am deeply committed to community healing and magical activism.
INSTAGRAM : @OPULENTWITCH        @THELIVINGALTAR
WEBSITE : https://www.opulentwitch.com

Ylvadroma Marzanna Radziszewski | they/them - she/her |

Ylvadroma Marzanna Radziszewski | she/her/they/them |
Ylva Mara Radziszewski is Bimbo Yaga, the Witch MILF of your wet dreams. She is a traditional witch and artist of Romani and Eastern European heritage currently living in New Orleans, traditionally known as Bulbancha; ancestral Chitimacha land.  ritual and art practice are interwoven; for them magic is art and art is healing. Founder of the School Of Traditional Magic, author of A Practical Guide for Witches, co-creator of The Living Altar.
Instagram: @bimboyaga
WEBSITE https://www.traditionalmagic.com