/ Modified jun 1, 2022 4:36 p.m.

The Continuum of Chella Man

Also on Arizona Spotlight: the current Tucson Museum of Art exhibition "4 x 4" celebrates Nasfarian Lotfi; and "Archive Tucson" shares the story of a family who resettled in Tucson in 1948.

chella man portrait hero Chella Man.
MaryV Benoit / courtesy Penguin Random House.

Arizona Spotlight

June 10, 2021

NPR
This episode of Arizona Spotlight is supported by <a href="https://degrazia.org/" target="_blank">Degrazia Gallery in the Sun Museum</a>. (Download MP3)

Featured on the June 10th, 2021 edition of ARIZONA SPOTLIGHT with host Mark McLemore:

  • Chella Man is, among many other things, an artist, actor, model, and now author of an autobiography called Continuum. published by Penguin Workshop. Chella Man talks with Mark about his life as a deaf, transgender, genderqueer, Jewish person of color, and his personal belief that "identity lies on a continuum -- a beautiful, messy, and ever-evolving road of exploration". It is a road that has already taken him far at age 22. (This week's Arizona Spotlight cover image of Chella Man / "Loving You" photograph by MaryV Benoit.)
chella man continuum cover unsized The cover to Chella Man's autobiographical book "Continuum", published by Penguin Workshop.
courtesy Penguin Workshop

Chella Man VLOG: The Beauty of Being Deaf BTS

  • The Tucson Museum of Art is currently hosting a show called 4 x 4. Four Southern Arizona artists, selected by four different TMA curators, examine the politics of space and the social issues of our time. This week, listen to a conversation between Nazafarin Lotfi, whose art explores the experience of belonging and bodies that are out of place, and Tucson Museum of Art Chief Executive Officer Jeremy Micolajczak. This story is produced by Andrew Brown. You can see a video version now, on the Arizona Illustrated Facebook and Instragram pages. 4 x 4 will be on view at the Tucson Museum of Art through September 26th, 2021.
Nazafarin Lotfi TMA spotlight Nazafarin Lotfi and Jeremy Mikolajczak at the Tucson Museum of Art.
Andrew Brown / AZPM

Nazafarin Lotfi installation hero Nazfarian Lotfi installation at the Tucson Museum of Art.
Andrew Brown / AZPM

Nazafarin Lotfi photo hero Viewer looking at Nazafarin Lotfi photograph at the Tucson Museum of Art.
Andrew Brown / AZPM

  • And, while Tucson is currently experiencing a housing shortage, this is not the first time homes in this region have been in short supply. In an interview for the “Archive Tucson” oral history project, John Wesley Miller tells producer Aengus Anderson about his family moving here to start a new life in 1948. “Archive Tucson” is a project of Special Collections at the University of Arizona Libraries. And, on this week’s Arizona 360, AZPM's Christopher Conover talks to newly appointed Arizona Department of Housing Director Tom Simplot. The topic is how rising demand for housing is driving down affordability. Watch it Friday evening at 8:30, on PBS-6.

archive tucson logo hero “Archive Tucson” is an oral history project of Special Collections at the University of Arizona Libraries. You can find many stories from Tucson's past at archivetucson.com.
courtesy Special Collections

Arizona Spotlight
Arizona Spotlight airs every Thursday at 8:30 am and 6:00 pm and every Saturday at 3:00 pm on NPR 89.1 FM / 1550 AM. You can subscribe to our podcast on Apple Music, Spotify, Amazon Music, or the NPR App. See more from Arizona Spotlight.
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