4. OBSIDIAN PODCAST
OBSIDIAN is a speculative fiction anthology podcast based in Afrofuturism by Safiyah Cheatam and Adetola Abdulkadir. Adetola Abdulkadir, is a writer, Genomic Analyst, and MS student at UMGC. Safiyah Cheatam is an interdisciplinary artist and MFA candidate at UMBC.
As an analyst, Adetola engages with the building blocks of humanity (DNA) daily, allowing him a unique perspective on how communities engage with tech and vice versa. Safiyah's work uses conceptual installations and visual metaphors to navigate spiritual, religious, and sociological collective experiences.
“Participating in Refusing Refusal felt like a no brainer as Black creatives in the Narrative Podcasting industry. Podcasting can often seem like a mindless hobby to many who are unfamiliar with the audio drama genre. Even within Podcasting Awards, we've seen people in the industry fail to recognize fiction podcasting. For Safiyah, the faculty in her Fine Arts program were reluctant to see our narrative podcast as a legitimate art form. Refusing Refusal gives us the avenue to present our work amongst artists of all mediums and firmly establish OBSIDIAN within the art world.”
“Refusing Refusal allows us to firmly establish OBSIDIAN, an audio drama, as a legitimate art form within the predominantly talk-show podcasting industry.”