Mendi Obadike makes literature, art, and music. She is the author of ARMOR AND FLESH (2004), which won the Naomi Long Madgett Prize from Lotus Press. With her husband Keith Obadike, she composed THE SOUR THUNDER, AN INTERNET OPERA and produced an audio anthology of text-sound compositions entitled CROSSTALK: AMERICAN SPEECH MUSIC (Bridge Records, 2004 & 2008). Their conceptual media artworks have been exhibited at the Whitney Museum, the New Museum, and Electronic Arts Intermix and the New York African Film Festival, among other institutions. Their opera-masquerade FOUR ELECTRIC GHOSTS debuted at The Kitchen in May 2009. Mendi earned a BA in English from Spelman College and a PhD in literature from Duke University. She has taught at Princeton University, Wesleyan University, and the School of Visual Arts. Mendi is Assistant Professor in Humanities and Media Studies at Pratt Institute. “Protest Poem” was first published in ARMOR AND FLESH (Lotus Press, 2004).
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