I. america, the dead star, the rotted plum, the leather fingers ‘round Your
neck
![](https://www.neworleansreview.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/soot_in_your_nose-1024x760.png)
Maud Acheampong (they/them) is a Ghanaian-American New Media Performance artist interested in soft technologies like misery, ugliness, nostalgia, monstrosity and the way they manifest in our digital ecologies – for better or worse. Through Dainty Funk, their digital avatar and horror drag persona, Acheampong takes on bright, monstrous forms and chronicles these phenomena through a digital lens.These works manifest as self portrait photography, video essay, publications, and performances contending with where we must go when we are denied our humanity. Acheampong is a Digital Interdisciplinary Art Practice MFA candidate at the City College of New York and a Member of the NEW INC mentorship program at the New Museum. Acheampong’s work has appeared in The Vibe Room, Sissy Anarchy, Mixed Mag, and Vogue.