QUATTLEBAUM
lisa
FELLOW
LISA QUATTLEBAUM BY DEJAH MCINTOSH
Meet UnMapping Fellow Lisa Quattlebaum. A native of Philadelphia, Lisa returned to the city after spending a decade in Asia. She is the founder of the online magazine The Homesteadista—empowering women to create transformative lives, inclusive organizational systems, and women-friendly cities. Lisa is a 4.0 Schools, Lenfest, MIT Solve, and VELA New Normal fellow. Her community involvement extends to teaching fellowships, mayoral-appointed board memberships, and advisory roles in organizations like Earth Force, PEF, FPAC, JLV, and Neighborhood Land Power Project. In her interactive research project, she aims to provide a platform for tween and teen girls to engage in writing, movement, and visual arts in a supportive and inclusive environment to uncover their authentic selves, cultivate their passions, and contribute to positive social change.
UnMapping Feature
Lisa Quattlebaum, proud UnMapping Fellow and Homesteadista, took the time to sit down with me, Ben Barsky - Writers Room Programs Assistant, to discuss the history and developments of her innovative, mixed-media project. From spending a decade abroad in Asia to understanding women in context of place and society, Lisa’s project will channel multiple forms of art that will make a statement and turn heads.
As the world and life are complex, Lisa began by giving the elementary sense of her project.
She then went on to discuss how identity plays a huge role in how the world may treat someone, specifically women: “... [I’m] looking at girls, the inner woman... in public space... how do they exist in a traditionally male gaze, in the sense of the political and cultural space? If I show up as a woman of color, how am I perceived? How is my physiology or how do I physically elicit, intentionally and otherwise, different feelings, thoughts, and engagement that don’t really serve me?” After discussing the vulnerable foundation of her project, Lisa went on to explore the idea of her truths and divulge some of the new revelations that have appeared throughout her creative process recently: “I have been sitting with the creative process and sitting with ‘well what do I see?’ as a part of this inquiry, investigation, and collaboration. Because of that, I have been serendipitously connected with people at the Painted Bride and other creatives who I can have those conversations with. The Aha! has been that it is okay that I have a vision.”
Lisa spoke further on her creative processes and practices and how her past experiences play a role in her perspective on culture and place:
“I lived in Japan and China. I remember in Japan, there was so much poise and a beautiful elegance where things are tucked in, there’s restraint.” Interestingly, she found a freedom when traveling she did not always experience in the country of her birth: “I think with place, I come back to cities and how women are in a place. There are certain places where I don’t feel good... or where I couldn’t be myself. And when I was in Asia, I felt I could really be myself... I [also] liked the anthropology of it, being in the space and observing and being.”
Lisa explained two of the main facets that influence her processes.
The first is her return to subject matter she has been working on for some time: “I look at old work I have done and realized, ‘Oh my god, I’m still talking about this.’ But... there is still something undone, and there is something in the world that hasn’t been resolved. So, I'm responding to myself and the external conditions of the world [and thinking] about process in a way that isn’t so isolated.” The second consideration for her comes into play because she is working with young women: “Protection, that’s all I see. There is this space to be super transparent and open... being vulnerable. I realized there is this dance that I do about being vulnerable and then being open, not just with the body, but again, talking about how you elicit and invite without even knowing--and playing with that... it bleeds into other aspects of identity. Like me as a woman of color, an older woman, a mom, when I wear my hair curly, all the things...”
As I listened to Lisa continuously unfold and expand upon topics of being, belonging, and vulnerability,
I can see how her creative processes and multi-sensory project has grown as well. Although Lisa wants to keep her final product a surprise, I can confidently say stay tuned as it will be magnificent.