‘Even though my work as a curator or DJ has been more visible over the years, I have used that to kind of hide behind my own desires to create more explicitly myself’

Tonica Hunter (they/she) is known for their curatorial work at the intersection of art and social justice. This summer for a month we hosted Tonica for their project "res(e)t" in which they expressed desire to have some weeks working on music namely: singing, writing and musical production. With an affinity for musical theater and performance, Tonica has been working on finding her own artistic practice as a kind of introspective artistic research project as well as exploring new media for themselves.

Tonica has been working with Ableton Live 12, local producers and a vocal coach over the last months in order to hone their skills as a DJ, songwriter and sound artist. Between 2025-2026 we will work with them again to realise a major original musical project of their choice and as a result of the residency research. 

From the artist

"Even though my work as a curator or DJ has been more visible over the years, I have used that to kind of hide behind my own desires to create more explicitly myself. I have always loved music so much - it is a medium that really has shaped me - but I chose traditional academia over theater school coming from a working class background and thinking that would be a less precarious path for me.

After a tough few months this year, I wanted to rest a bit and reset myself to align my interests into more of a creative process for myself, I wanted to try things out without any fear or restrictions and do that in a space where I also document the process. I have been documenting some of the daily tasks in the space on social media.  But honestly it has just been nice to sing out loud, or to get new software and ask friends and peers for help and feedback. It really helped me the last few months in more ways than I could have expected."