Asmara Sium
Asmara and Creative Grounds DC have been a constant as I continue to navigate the art landscape in DC. My first feature in an exhibition was on display at Creative Grounds in the winter of 2024. It was during this show I got to see first hand how much of a champion Asmara is for the local art scene. She uses the word steward to describe her role in the area as a business owner, advocate and community leader.
A candid conversation about culture, community, stewardship & Creative Grounds DC
Christen: Hi Asmara! I’m super excited to chat with you and dig into your brain a little bit. I’ve always been curious. Okay! Here’s my first question. How'd you get here? How did creative grounds get started?
Asmara: Before Creative Grounds, I served on the Smithsonian’s National Museum of African Art Advisory Board. During my time there, I realized how many emerging artists lacked spaces to exhibit their work without navigating layers of red tape.
I started Creative Grounds in 2019 with a simple goal: to create a place where my neighbors, the arts community, my children, and families could gather around art, books, good people, and meaningful conversation. I lived in the neighborhood and wanted to build a space where people could connect with one another while creating opportunities for artists to share their work, earn income, and be seen.
Christen: What was one of the first examples of community you saw in your childhood?
Asmara: The first example of community I experienced came from my mother. I’m originally from Eritrea, although I was born and raised here and both my mother and my Eritrean identity have taught me that community isn’t something you choose to participate in; it’s woven into everyday life. From our faith traditions to our cultural practices, very little is done in isolation.
Christen: Does your mother continue to create those spaces of community at her age? Or have you seen that change?
Asmara: As she’s gotten older, her priorities have shifted. Today she’s the primary caregiver for her own mother, and to me that’s still the purest expression of community. It’s a generational throughline. Her mother cared for her parents. My mother now cares for hers. The form has changed, but the values haven’t. She now divides her time between Eritrea and the United States, and she remains deeply involved in her faith community, and a supportive women’s group. Community evolves, but responsibility to one another remains.
Christen: What values have you taken from your mom? And maybe some aunties or other folks in your community? And what things do you take and then pass on to your kids?
Asmara: Yeah, that one's easy; dignity. Everyone deserves dignity. EVERYONE. Those small acts of care can have a lasting impact on someone's life. So don't be an ass. If somebody asks you for help, I consider that to be a big deal. See their dignity and not their trauma and show up!
Christen: So, what does community mean to you?
Asmara: Community means belonging. It means being seen. For me, Creative Grounds is the fullest expression of what community looks like today. It’s about intentionally creating spaces, whether that’s a brick-and-mortar café, a backyard gathering, or any place where people can come together to connect, share, and belong. Sometimes the people who become your community aren’t part of your family or your immediate circle. They’re simply people who choose to show up for one another. Those spaces remind us that belonging can extend far beyond the boundaries of our own lives.
Christen: You spoke a little bit about creative grounds being your vessel, essentially to steward community, right?
Asmara: That's my favorite word, stewardship.
Christen: Why?
Asmara: I’ve come to believe that we are not meant to exist in isolation. Nothing meaningful happens without people caring for it together. Stewardship is about caring for one another, caring for our communities, and caring for the planet. It’s recognizing that everything we touch is, in some way, entrusted to us for a period of time. That’s what I try to teach my children. Everything I’ve done in my life, including Creative Grounds has ultimately been an exercise in stewardship.
Christen: Beautifully said. I would love to talk about your experience in your family's kitchen growing up and your family's dinner table. What did that look like for you? What does that smell like? What did it taste like?
Asmara: Growing up, coffee was always a central component of almost every meal. Coffee is definitely a part of every celebration, every gathering. In terms of dinner, again, because I'm from Eritrea, Berbere, which is our spice, I smell it, I know it, I can identify a time, a place, a person; that triggers certain memories. What does it sound like? What does it sound like? That's a good question. It sounds noisy only because it's not something you eat by yourself. You're eating it with a lot of people.
Christen: What were some of your favorite dishes growing up?
Asmara: Shiro has always been one of my favorites. It’s a rich, lentil-based dish, and since I’ve been a vegetarian for more than twenty year, even before that, I ate very little meat, it has always been a staple for me. I also love hamli, a comforting spinach dish, and timtumo, another hearty lentil-based favorite. And then there’s injera. I could eat injera with just about anything, even on its own with a little salt. It’s one of those foods that simply feels like home.
Actually, I almost forgot my true favorite: ga’at. Unless you’re Eritrean, there’s a good chance you’ve never had it. It’s a warm porridge that’s shaped into a mound with a well in the center. Into that well you add berbere and tesmi, clarified butter, similar to ghee. If the spice is a little too intense, you cool it down with a bit of sour cream around the edges of the bowl. It’s deeply comforting, incredibly simple, and without question my favorite dish.
Christen: Wait, can I have a plate?
Asmara: Of course. I got you.
Christen: Okay, last question! Similar to the dream blunt rotation, who’s your dream dinner rotation?
Asmara: Nina Simone, James Baldwin, Bell Hooks, Fela Kuti, Gregory Isaac or Beres Hammond. That would be so much fun. Um... Did I say Miles Davis? Oh, Miles Davis. And of course, Assata Shakur.
Interview Conducted by Christen Whitaker - June 2026
Photography by Berchel Douglas Jr.
Maurice Scarlett III
I first became aware of Maurice’s work last year by way of exploring Baltimore’s staple third space, Hooper House & his “Visceral” solo exhibition that was on display during my visit. I was instantly drawn into the contrast of his mysterious dark figures and bold colors that brought each piece together.
Read the interview below to understand how family, community and hobbies shaped his world
Christen: What's your earliest memory as an artist?
Maurice: My earliest memory was in elementary school. After school, I would come home and look at Toonami on Cartoon Network. I would be looking at Dragon Ball Z, and I would catch myself sketching a lot of the cartoons I was watching, and then I would go to school and show my friends what I did and that kind of led to me becoming an artist in my younger years. So it was a lot of sketching cartoons. I would also sketch a lot of the anime I was watching when I was younger.
Christen: Do you remember how you felt when you would not only watch the cartoons, but I guess kind of participate in that as well?
Maurice: Yeah, I really felt imaginative. I felt like my imagination was growing a lot at that time, and I was sponging what I was seeing through the cartoons and that would comb through my sketches. I just felt very imaginative at that time. Like, I can kind of do anything!
Christen: What made you want to draw the things you were watching and interacting with?
Maurice: I felt like the colors caught my eye at a young age because it was so vivid, especially with Dragon Ball Z. Like the colors you saw in the fight scenes and stuff, I tried my best to emulate it the best way that I can. Some of it was a little shaky early on, but it was a lot of the animation and the colors. It was so vivid to me.
Christen: If you could kind of think back, right? Like, think about that moment when you're sketching, you were probably like sitting on your bed, on the floor. It would be things like crayons or colored pencils. From there to right now, can you share your timeline as an artist?
Maurice: In elementary school, that's where it started. When I got to middle school, I kind of put it on the back burner. I had dreams of being a basketball player. I was putting a lot of focus into that. And then, I wanna say, like, towards the end of my senior year in high school, that's when I slowly started to pick it back up. But ultimately it wasn’t until I was 20 or 21. It was after I seen this Basquiat documentary — it resonated with me so much. That made me pick up the paintbrush, and that sort of led me to where I'm at now. So I already just started off as a hobby, for fun, and then I put it on the back burner, but then after watching the Basquiat documentary, I was like, nah, I really got to start painting now, and yeah, it led to me becoming an artist.
Christen: What did you see in the Basquiat documentary that resonated with you?
Maurice: It was a lot. It was his artistic style, because he wasn't really like a loud vocal person, but he put that in his artistry, and I'm kind of the same way. I put a lot of what I want to say and share in my artwork. But also, it was the impact that he had. It was strong when he was living and even when he passed away. I started to think about how could I not emulate an impact like his, but, like, how can I have an impact of my own? I figured that I could have an impact on art because people always told me I was a good artist, and I was like yeah okay in disbelief. But then when I sold a piece, to really take it more seriously, I was like, oh shit, I can sense it. Like, I feel it. But yeah, it was his style, his impact, and really his mindset. He didn't really let the art world really get to him like that. I feel like now that's resonating with me more now as I'm getting deep into the art world; but it’s really a combination of those things.
Christen: It seems like you may be talking a bit about boundaries. What are some of the boundaries that you're facing now that you’ve made breakthroughs in the art world and in the art community?
Maurice: Patience. It’s patience. Because I feel like we have social media now and it's so easy to compare yourself. So, if you see another artist popping, you start thinking like, damn, I'm not doing enough or I could be doing that. And I've kind of grown to realize, if you say consistent, things are gonna pop off for you, but only when it's meant to be. So, along the way, you just have to be patient and stay grounded and not get discouraged. I feel like that's one boundary I really had to overcome. I'm still learning it as I go, but I feel like now it's gotten easier.
Christen: How do you want people to see you as an artist?
Maurice: I feel like that answer changes a lot for me. I could say as of right now, it’s just as somebody that really loves and cares about what he’s doing as an artist. but also, as an artist that’s looked out for people that were around them, that shared opportunities with them, and that was a mentor for younger artists in Baltimore.
Christen: Now let's move on to talking about your family and the dinner table. What are some of your favorite dishes growing up?
Maurice: On my Caribbean side, it was oxtails, rice and peas, cabbage, and plantains with a side of cocoa bread. That's like my favorite Caribbean meal, but on my American side, hmm. My American side is mac and cheese, collard greens, mashed potatoes, and turkey legs. String beans too. That's my favorite American meal, but it's so much to pick because I'm in two different worlds with that.
Berchel: So, I remember from our conversation, you said that you've traveled to Jamaica. What was the dish that you ate out there? That just has this long-lasting effect on you or this memory?
Maurice: Please don't judge me for my answer, but I have to say KFC. Yo, the KFC smacked so hard out there. Yeah. Please don’t kill me. So, I had it, I was like, yo, y'all eating like this over here? Out there, that KFC is different!
Christen: Alright, last question. You know how people talk about your dream blunt rotation. What’s your dream dinner rotation?
Maurice: I would have to say my grandfather on my father's side, Sade, the singer. And the last person, my mother. I got to say my mother.
Christen: Why your mom?
Maurice: Because me and my mother have a cool relationship, like, she doesn’t always feel like a mother to me. She at times feels more like my little sister. Just our dynamic. Honestly, my grandmother really felt like my mother, my mother felt like my little sister. We got a cool relationship.
Interview Conducted by Christen Whitaker - June 2026
Photography by Berchel Douglas Jr.