THE
Call Me Mother Experience
The Call Me Mother Experience (CMM) is an interactive performance installation and immersive experience that combines digital storytelling, text-based art, spoken word, film, and live performance, as a platform to examine Black folks and the profound ways they and their communities navigate the journey towards motherhood.
Our Mission
Titled after a poem crafted during the middle of her miscarriage, Deborah D.E.E.P. Mouton partners with a cohort of national artists to create a project that beckons attendees through a choose-your-own-adventure style sequence, inviting reflection, empathy, and deep-rooted connection with motherhood.
Our Why
With death rates three to four times higher than the national average, Black womxn suffer higher complications due to systematic racism and implicit biases across the healthcare field. In Harris County, TX, these staggering rates contribute to mothers and their newborn children’s deaths. These incidents, labeled “deaths of disparity” by the Health and Resource Service Administration, have been deemed completely preventable. This art raises the question, “Who is deserving of life and legacy in the eyes of our healthcare system?”
Our How
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By offering opportunities for audiences to interact, connect, and reflect on their own life experiences, CMM seeks to humanize their experiences and push for conversations and policy solutions for more equitable births and care in all communities. This work tells the stories of real womxn who have hoped, lost, loved, and believed in a future birthed out of the fire and the families and communities that are equally affected .
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This project is fiscally sponsored through Fresh Arts and plans to open at the Health Museum in Fall 2025.
MEET OUR ARTISTS
Each of these nationally-known artists has had their own journey to and around motherhood. Their rich experiences and brilliant talents combine make CMM unique and unforgettable experience.
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Curator and Lead Artist
Performance and Text-based Art
Deborah D.E.E.P. Mouton
Deborah D.E.E.P Mouton is an award-winning author, playwright, director, performer, critic, and the first Black Poet Laureate of Houston, TX. Praised by the NY Times as an artist who “defies categorization”, her genre-bending works span from stage to canvas to page. A former Resident Artist with the American Lyric Theater, Rice University, and the Houston Museum of African American Culture, her upcoming projects will debut at The Kennedy Center and American Lyric Theater. She resides in Houston, TX.
Storyteller and filmmaker
Keda Sharber is a Houston-based storyteller who uses film, photo, and written/spoken word to investigate and reveal the beautifully complex truths of her community. Since 2009 she has produced a variety of content including documentaries, web series, short films, fine art photography and written pieces that all share the same goal of shattering stereotypes and rewriting the narrative of Black people. A self-taught artist, Keda has held a solo fine art photography exhibit, had her images published in calendars and magazines and been awarded grants for her documentary film work.
Emmy award winning composer, Jasmine Arielle Barnes, is a Baltimore native, Dallas based composer. Her music has been described as “refreshing..,engaging...,exciting” by San Francisco Classical Voice, "Beautifully lyrical" by The Telegraph (UK), and “the best possible blend of Billie Holiday and Claude Debussy” by Boston Globe. Barnes has been a resident artist for Opera Theater of Saint Louis (2023/24), American Lyric Theater (2021-23) , Chautauqua Opera (2021), and All Classical Portland (2021).
Singer and Composer
Poet and Painter
Vogue M. Robinson – poet, author, mentor, painter, and teaching artist was raised by her grandmother, Martina Carpenter in Perris, CA. Robinson is a graduate of SDSU where she earned her B.A. in English. While traditional classrooms proved a challenge, she remains passionate about sharing what she has learned with others. Robinson appreciates human beings who put truth and heart into words. She served as Clark County Poet Laureate (2017-2019) and is the first Black woman to receive the Silver Pen award from the Nevada Writers' Hall of Fame. Robinson serves as a teaching artist within the community.
Stacey Allen is an award winning performance artist, curator, and advocate for arts education, educational equity, and reproductive justice all while being a wife and mother to three beautiful children. Maintaining her artistic practice while navigating Motherhood has come with challenges, but integrating the art of mothering with her insistence on telling Black stories through movement and material culture has been worth the while. Her brainchild, Nia’s Daughters Movement Collective received a Congressional Recognition for their mission aligned work of creating and supporting art and wellness initiatives through the lens of Black women and girls.
Choreographer
Andonnia has always been a lover of art. As a little girl she fell in love with markers, pencils, pens, paints, ceramics, and almost any art tool she could get her hands on. With the passing of time, she's danced, played instruments, sung beautiful music, and since fourth grade - composed poetry. Since then she has blossomed into a visual artist and filmmaker who combines poetry and her passion for Black Women's rights into a powerful expression.
Poet, Filmmaker, and and Activist
Painter and Maternal Health Advocate
Omari Maynard is a father, artivist, and culture and narrative strategist. He is a self taught artist but has cultivated his style under the tutelage of his late uncle, Leo Carty. After losing his life partner, Shamony Gibson, to medical negligence while giving birth to their second child, Omari has dedicated his life to using art as a tool to eradicate systemic racism. Omari’s life journey and artwork has been featured in the Peabody Award winning and Emmy nominated documentary, Aftershock, now streaming on Hulu.
Omari now travels around the country using his artwork to raise awareness on fatherhood and the maternal health epidemic. He can hear his jounrey on various platforms such as Good Morning America, ABC Nightline, The Breakfast Club on Power 105, The New York Times, and The Wall Street Journal.
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Digital Artist and Illustrator
Joshua Mouton is the owner and lead artist of J Smooth Ink. This native Houstonian is a graduate of Full Sail University with a Bachelor's Degree in Graphic Design. His keen eye and love for depth helps him develop websites, logos, and build brand identities for individuals and companies. His love of art was birthed out of a childhood affection with cartoons and anime, which continues to spark his exhibit-worthy works. Mouton has worked with a large array of clients including the Houston Grand Opera, The Children’s Museum of Houston, and the Houston Arts Alliance- to name a few. As a father, he looks to pass on his artistic love to his children.
Poet and Culturist
Born in Saginaw, MI, award-winning writer/spoken word artist Truth B. Told (born Christopher Owens) has wowed audiences from Ford Theater in Hollywood to the Alvin Ailey Theater in Manhattan & Barclays Center in Brooklyn. The multiple slam champion has been featured on BET's Black History Moment series and Dove/Twitter's #SpeakBeautiful campaign, has appeared on MTV, VH1, and PBS, and has even written a successful pitch for a company on ABC’s Shark Tank.
Owens is founder and CEO of Culture PHX, a community-focused company founded in September 2017 which curates events and initiatives to empower Black and other underserved communities that has garnered national headlines for its work with the WNBA’s Phoenix Mercury and New York Liberty. Owens’ newest endeavor, CultureHUB—Arizona’s first Black-owned co-working and event space—opened December 2023 on historic Grand Avenue, providing a culturally safe space for Black entrepreneurs with creative and corporate backgrounds and endeavors. CultureHUB’s motto is “Connect Dots, Build Culture, Thrive Together.”
OUR Advisory Team
Ashley Alridge- CEO, The Brown Egg
Kevin Anderson- CEO, The T.R.U.T.H. Project
Dr. Valerie Bahar- Assistant Medical Director of Community Health Choice
Michelle Barnes- Executive Director, Community Artists' Collective
Nikki Greenaway-OB/GYN
Kay Matthews- CEO, Shades of Blue
Chris Owens- CEO, Culture Hub
LaToya Shields- Director of Harris County Pathways Community HUB
Amy Smith- Senior Director of Operations and Communications for Harris County Domestic Violence Coordinating Council
Sponsors and Partners
The Posoli Family Foundation
Maternal Health Research Group-
University of Houston
