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Cathy Byrd

@thecathybyrd

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Roaming, Writing, and Podcasting 🌱more stories @freshartintl

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by @thecathybyrd

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4 months ago

Amy Sherald—American Sublime🌱Anywhere You Go To Listen 🎤 Today, we share with you the finale of the Fresh Art International podcast, ending more than a decade of storytelling from art scenes around the world. @freshartintl @asherald

Coming full circle, we’ve returned to Baltimore, Maryland. The Magic City is where we released our very first episode in October 2011. Our guest was MacArthur Genius, artist Joyce J. Scott. @joycescott390 @goya_contemporary_gallery

In October 2025, we sit down with another long time friend of Fresh Art International: artist Amy Sherald. Inside the Baltimore Museum of Art, she takes us on a tour of American Sublime, her touring mid-career retrospective exhibition. Recording conversations with this artist along her path to greatness has been a privilege and an honor. @sfmoma @whitneymuseum @baltimoremuseumofart

Fresh Art International holds an archive of many such stories—all with enduring value. Over time, we have documented critically important voices from the evolving world of contemporary art.

The John S. and James L. Knight Foundation, Emily Hall Tremaine Foundation, Locust Projects and the Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, and most important, Listeners Like You, have made Fresh Art International possible.
Thank You, for Listening! 🌱 @knightfdn #tremainefoundation @locustprojects @warholfoundation taken in Baltimore, Maryland by @thecathybyrd

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10 months ago

If you are lucky, one day you will meet Honorato Deocleciano do Carmo.

Mais um Poeta Brasileiro (One More Brazilian Poet), his book of prose poems, was first published in 2010. My friend Vanessa Deabreu took the lead in producing the 2025 bilingual edition that introduces the English speaking world to Honorato.

Our paths cross often during the month I spend in Corumbau, a fishing village at the edge of Bahia, Brazil. Honorato was born here. His people are the indigenous Pataxó. He was 18 years old when he wrote his first poem.

What compels him to write?

“I find inspiration in the movement of time, in evolution. Time goes by and things change. That’s how I get inspired and write.”

What do you want readers to take away from their encounter with your poems?

“I would like for them to feel happy. To write about things that interest them, too. Tell the truth. Write what happened.”

For you, he reads aloud the first poem in his book:

ADORO FAZER POESIA
EU NÃO SOU O PRIMEIRO
MAS TAMBÉM NÃO SOU O DERRADEIRO
NÃO SOU DE GRANDE CIDADE
NEM TAMBÉM SOU DO ESTRANGEIRO
MAS QUEM SABE
AQUI DE UM CANTINHO DA BAHIA SAI
MAIS UM POETA BRASILEIRO

I LOVE MAKING POETRY
I AM NOT THE FIRST
BUT I’M ALSO NOT THE LAST I’M NOT FROM THE BIG CITY NEITHER AM I FROM ABROAD
BUT WHO KNOWS
HERE FROM A CORNER OF BAHIA SPRINGS
ONE MORE BRAZILIAN POET

Obrigada to @honorato_poeta, @vanessa_deabreu, @corumbausovem @nataliaeoc for making this story possible💜 taken in Ponta do Corumbau, Bahia by @thecathybyrd

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10 months ago

🌸 Birthday Gal 🌸

Birthday fête with new friend Gal in Corumbau. 💕🌕 🍾🍹🩷🎂The chant that ends this story was one of the flourishes to embellish her birthday song that night under the moon.

Gal explains: In Brazil, there’s a fun extra moment at the end of the traditional “Happy Birthday” song called the hora do ratibum. After everyone finishes singing “Parabéns pra você,” the group adds a playful chant filled with rhythm and clapping.

The glowing chant I witnessed went something like this:

“É pique! É pique! É hora! É hora! É hora! É hora! Rá-tim-bum! Gal! Gal! Gal!”

Origins of the chant’s percussive rhythm? “Rá” represents the sound of the snare drum, “Tim” the cymbal, and “Bum” the bass drum.

🥁Super Legal! (meaning: Super Cool!)😎 taken in Corumbau - Bahia / Brasil by @thecathybyrd

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10 months ago

Breakfast with Dada. As you can see, she brings warmth and charm to the fresh and savory experience. Serving overnight guests (and visitors like me, by reservation) at the shady beach side lodging known as Loin de Tout—Far from Everything. ☀️Dada was born in Corumbau. Her father was a fisherman. Her mother harvested shellfish. With her husband, Dada has raised a family here— four children, now ages 13 to 27.

Dada never studied cooking. She learned by doing, from a very young age. Loves making bread and promises to prepare for me a special dish with grilled shrimp. Cannot wait!

I ask her what has changed the most since her childhood. Tourism, she says, without hesitation. It brings work for her family.

What she would like for visitors to remember? The smiles, the friendliness, the small town welcome, and the beauty of the beach. ☀️ taken in Ponta do Corumbau, Bahia by @thecathybyrd

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10 months ago

Stillness after a day and night of heavy rain. The sky and sea gather their thoughts, contemplating the lacune left behind when village boats turned to the river for shelter. taken in Ponta do Corumbau, Bahia by @thecathybyrd

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10 months ago

Room with a View taken in Ponta do Corumbau, Bahia by @thecathybyrd

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10 months ago

Infinitely picturesque, the jewels of Ponta do Corumbau are the boats, though artisanal fishing seems to be ebbing with each tide. As tourism begins to compress indigenous life ways into visitor experiences and outsiders lay claim to precious real estate, the original families in this seaside community may well disappear within the next few decades. 🌿Stay tuned for the story of a native poet who has recorded this loss across time. 🌿Here’s to the longest possible life for the village where I have been so warmly welcomed. Viva a Bahia!☀️ taken in Ponta do Corumbau, Bahia by @thecathybyrd

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10 months ago

Found space and time for inner peace beneath the tropical tree canopy that shades Canto de Jurema Corumbau…yoga beside a crystal pool, a cocoa ritual, a vegan feast, and this serene sisterhood…Maravilhosa Bahia☀️🕊️🌿 taken in Canto de Jurema Chalé e Glamping. Corumbau Bahia by @thecathybyrd

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a year ago

Aventuras Baianas! Two of my beautiful Brazilian friends lured me to Caraíva this week. Where the river meets the sea, there is music, dancing, laughter. Good coffee, cold beer, cassava wraps, sweet corn cakes, and artisanal chocolate. Soon, the stories… taken in Caraíva, Bahia, Brazil by @thecathybyrd

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a year ago

by @thecathybyrd

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a year ago

Morning walk. by @thecathybyrd

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a year ago