Born in Texas, and raised by his mother in Venezuela until returning to California as a teenager, Devendra Banhart is admired for his shimmering, folk-inflected psychedelia. In a near two-decade career, Banhart has worked with Yoko Ono, Beck, and Caetano Veloso. The self-described “very bad Buddhist,” and keen skateboarder, is also a visual artist and poet. His debut poetry collection, Weeping Gang Bliss Void Yab-Yum, was published in April 2019, and, like his songs, reflects a quirky, whimsical, at times melancholic sensibility. His most recent album is Ma, a collection of tender and elegant songs that speak to the Buddhist belief that everyone has been a mother at some point.

Curator and writer Constance Lewallen (1939-2022) was Adjunct Curator at the University of California Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive, where she curated many contemporary art exhibitions, including Ant Farm (1968-1978), 2004 (co-curated with Steve Seid), A Rose Has No Teeth: Bruce Nauman in the 1960s, 2007, and co-curated Stephen Kaltenbach: The Beginning and the End for the Manetti Shrem Museum at UC Davis. She is the author of 500 Capp Street: David Ireland’s House and co-author with Dore Bowen of Bruce Nauman: Spatial Encounters, both published by UC Press. She was an Editor-at-Large for the Brooklyn Rail.