India Mallard

India Mallard is an art appraiser, audiovisual archivist, and multimedia storyteller based in Maryland, USA. Hailing from the New York tri-state area, Mallard is an alumna of the state’s oldest HBCU (Historically Black College and University), Bowie State University. She received her B.S. in Visual Communication and Digital Media Arts (VCDMA) with a concentration in Digital Cinema and Time-based Media. Most notably, India is one of three scholars who successfully completed the Hip-Hop Studies and Visual Culture minor program—studying under the first female MC in Hip Hop history, MC Sha-Rock. Mallard also owns and operates her media company, Soulful Haze, LLC, which aims to bridge generational dimensions in Black Culture and create equality in the music and art enthusiast communities through research and archival services. She is affiliated with the following organizations: Women in Film, the Playwrights’ Center, the Association of Moving Image Archivists, and the National Honor Society of Leadership and Success (NSLS).

 When India is not crate digging at her “wrecka stow” or browsing bookstores, she is actively researching and authoring essays that contribute to dynamic conversations in performing arts of the African diaspora, specializing in film, Hip Hop culture, and—of course, Prince. Known as “Ms. Power Fantastic” or simply as “Ms. India” in the Purple Community, Mallard has been a “Princeologist” for over eleven years. His electrifying impact motivated her to view music from an academic lens, thus leading her to write about Prince her entire undergraduate career. Her most recent works include: “We R Glad That U R Free, Prince…,” “The Elucidation of Prince’s ‘Cinnamon Girl,’” and “Prince the Purple Prophesier: His Internet & Intellectual Property-Based Revolution for the Advancement of Black Capitalism in the Music Industry.” Serving as one-fourth of The Purple Townhouse collective, she strives to cultivate safe spaces for purple fam of all ages—highlighting The Next Power Generation—to discuss Prince’s magnificent legacy music and beyond while documenting her nuanced voyage with His Royal Badness’ art. Much like Prince, she desires to create bodies of work that represent innovation while persevering and incorporating analog techniques and treasures of life.