Nimot Ogunfemi

University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign

Mixed Media

Nimot Ogunfemi is an artist, healer in training and fourth year doctoral student in Counseling Psychology. She uses art based methods for her research, pedagogy and community engagement. Her work often focuses on psycho-spiritual healing, indigenous thought, and liberation from multiple forms of oppression. You can find more of her work on instagram @ogunfemme 

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Sera Smith

@serasmith_

 UC Berkeley

Mixed Media

I am an auntie, writer, photographer, multimedia artist, community worker and student. This work is about reclaimed love. Quarantine sent me through some trials. At my worst, I learned to love myself deeper than I ever have. This love was strengthened by the care and devotion of my sisters (blood and chosen). And I have found all hope through the women who have walked before me and guided me through this world. 

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Denise D. Williams

University of Texas at Dallas

Photos of me and my paintings

I am an East Oakland native and began my creative process as a young, classically trained musician. Later, I developed my skills as a multidisciplinary artist picking up photography and painting. This summer, in the midst of a deep and pervasive sadness I was reunited with my love of painting, more specifically acrylic pouring. I’ve dabbled in a few painting mediums, but none have captured my attention the way acrylic pouring has. I’m fascinated and frustrated with the spontaneity of it all. The fact that nothing usually goes the way I planned, and this was both marvelous and maddening. From a very early age, journaling has been a pivotal part of my expression. However, during the quarantine, my journaling process has evolved into painting. It’s has been my way of putting words to paper (or, in this case, canvas). In some ways, my work is a collection of journal entries in the form of fluid art, specifically, Dutch swipes and acrylic puddle pours. 

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Bria Bailey

Poem + photography + video

I’m a recent UCB/UCSF graduate and current birth worker. One of my lowest points during the pandemic was during the pandemic and riots in response to Breonna Taylor, George Floyd, and Ahmaud Aubrey. Being so far away from

Home and in isolation the one thing that was able to constantly sustain me through it all, was my breathe. As a lifelong asthmatic and Black woman, breathing is revolutionary. I reflected on the last breathes that George took which made me value my ability to move air in and out of my body was a miracle. I woke up from my sleep to write this poem, in hopes that it brings healing or comfort to my community 

 

As a survivor, birthworker, researcher, and pole dancer, I'm always looking for creative ways to heal. The pole studio is where I feel the most free, creative, and sexy. I learned to tap into my inner divine femininity as I continue to celebrate myself and watch goals manifest into reality. I’m constantly amazed at all my body has done and how She continues to show up for me.  I learned to set boundaries for myself and my body here and that "No" is a complete sentence. Pole dancing saved my life. My goal is to evolve in my healing evolution so that I may facilitate healing in my community and beyond.

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Ayenjo

Photography

Every since I could remember my mama would braid hair out of our house. I’d always see her bringing in clients and she stayed making sure me and my sisters hair looked good. When I turned 12, I started doing my hair on my own. Learning how to braid all types of styles and even practicing on my sister. Now that I’m older, I experiment so much with my hair styles and I have my own braiding business. Realizing how much my mother inspired me as a young girl to express myself creatively through hair makes me feel so connected to her. Feeling connected to my mother  was hard for me growing up because my mother was battling her own childhood trauma and drug use. So I hold on to this... knowing that little baby angel was inspired by her mama once... before the drugs took her away. That the good parts of my mama are deeply ingrained in me. I celebrate that.

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Adanna Perry

parrisxo , sistersoftheesun

Sisters of the Sun

Photography

Pictured here is me in my room, celebrating the one year anniversary of Sisters of the Sun, which is a co-healing platform that I created out of my deep desire to be in community with Black women. The name, Sisters of the Sun, came to me while reading bell hook’s Sisters of the Yam. For hooks, her intention was to invest in an “individual’s desire to recover, to find a space within and without, where she could sustain the will to be well and create affirming habits of being” (6). For me, the sun represents warmth and helps me feel more alive. My initial intent with creating this space was to offer in-person gatherings for Black women, but due to the pandemic I quickly had to learn new and creative ways to hold space for Black women. This pandemic shifted my sense of time, but having this virtual platform has served as an archive of my own personal healing journey. My intention with creating this space is to create new worlds for Black women that affirm our right to be well.

 

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Leneka Pendergrass

@afrikanamuskogeana

UC Berkeley

Textiles

My name is Leneka and I recently graduated from UC Berkeley in the Fall of 2020. Following my graduation I decided to move into a new apartment. I was ready for a change and with covid going on I was in need of an updated space to zoom and quarantine in. Therefore, my stimmy would be going towards some new furniture. Well that was until I spent countless days searching online for a headboard and wall decor. Nothing I came across moved me. So I thought I’d tap in to my creative side and make my own headboard. Something that would uplift my mood if I wanted to attend a zoom meeting while sitting in bed…something that had color and patterns originating from our ancestral roots. This piece is a reminder of how we, as the most resilient people, have always used our gifts and creativity to rise above unpleasant conditions. I also created a piece to put on my living room wall that highlights my background while I’m in zoom meetings. I have received many compliments on these pieces and have decided to share my gifts in this #blackgirlquarantine exhibit.  

 

 

Adanna Perry and Lizette London

IG @parrisxo, @lizette.london

Photography

Welcome beloved, this is our visual meditation of our time getting to know not only each other as roommates, but also ourselves more deeply and intimately during the earlier months of the pandemic. 

 

Our beautiful brownstone apartment is the locus of duo Cancer Sun sign energy and a whole lotta mid-20s realness. Let us say that again, “mid-20s realness.” During this time, we learned a few things: peace in solitude can amount to a necessary life-force, healing [is] an act of communion (ashè to auntie bell), the body is a sacred space to explore sensual pleasures, food and natural herbs have many healing elements, and Love as a verb - a ritual/practice, has the profound ability to transform the self in many ways. These practices redefined the meaning of connection, especially when it came to our family, friends, and partners. 

 

2020 brought us many blessings, but also a lot of grief. We talked often about our mortality, and needing to remain present with the fact that though we believe our Spirits to be immortal, we ourselves and our physical presence are not. Therefore, we wanted to be more intentional. This is our Love note to 2020 Adanna and Liz.

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Jaminque Adams

@jladamx if ya looking fa meh =]

University of Georgia

Photography

Heyyy beautiful! I go by the names Jaminque, (pronounced Jay-min-ique =), Jam, Jammy Jam, Jam-On-It, Mookie, Jay, and Nique. My names are a lot to chew on, I know. But I love my people for giving me all these names. I was born and raised in the Blackest city in America, Detroit. My pieces of photographs are doing two things: my first piece "Silver Hair Blues" is honoring the sacred and quiet place of solitude with myself. My second piece is affirming, uplifting and loving on baby Jam who despite trauma, rejection, and abandonment has found a way to live fully in this world. I see you baby girl. I feel you. And I hear you. My two hair puffs are dedicated to young Jaminque because it's what she always wanted.

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Shar

IG: sbxsunflowers

Poem & Photography

I've been discovering bits of myself and revisiting hard truths during quarantine. The poem revisit sections of my girlhood, things black womxn don't get time to explore with adultification on our backs from birth. Mourning my lost childhood and then being force fed resilience as if we had any other choices/ options. I was offering homage and also apologizing to the girls in me who never got a fair chance to thrive. During quarantine I craved the sun and the mountains. The photo is from a park day and the sun was on my skin providing warmth and flowers were in my hair...and my people were dying. So I brought Hood Feminism by Mikki Kendall and a pocket journal with me and I practiced black rest/black joy. Our happiness and rest is resistance and may we never forget it.  

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Jasmine Sozi

instagram: maybejasmineee

UC Berkeley

Multimedia

Artist Description: 

I am a sister, artist, lover, warrior, and organizer. I came to art originally as someone with a passion for music, however from the intersection of pain, reflection, and self-love I have found healing. I realized that all of us can be creators when we tap into our highest self to do what is in alignment with our desires, in addition to what best services our communities. During quarantine, I have had to sit with myself more; I have come to realize that I cannot show up for folks in my community without showing up for myself first—fully. This series is an ode to me, and to unapologetic self-care and self-love. I would be incomplete, however, without my tribe. Therefore, my art and life’s work are also dedicated to my ancestors and loved ones. 

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gift of the present:

 

caption: 

This is a collage of images with one of my best friends in spaces we have been able to share together. In these moments I am reminded of the gift of the present moment. As I watched the birds flock across the beach with you, during what was the most perfect sunset I have ever seen in this lifetime, I felt peace. I felt love. And for that, I am eternally grateful. 

 

"ode to me": 

 

i was in somewhat of a perpetual state of shock

this whole time i was looking for someone, or something, to complete me

who knew?

everything i needed was already inside me

 

“Untitled Affirmation,” February 6th 2021: 

 

This morning I breathe deeply with gratitude for all that is here. Living and unliving. In motion and fixed in place. I stare at the sun's reflection acknowledging that it is a mere imitation of the perfect, radiant being above. Today I aspire to shine like that star that greets me day in and day out with its beaming rays. Piercing through the clouds that surround me and reminding me to exhale.

 

A Poem- with no picture attached: 

On Stupid Questions: 

 

My teachers have always said there are no such thing as stupid questions. 

This gave me the space to be a free thinker. 

I’d ask: 

Why is the sky blue?

What exactly is gravity? 

And why does the moon follow me home?

But I’ll never forget the day he asked me that stupid question. 

He said, after all I've put you through, “can we still be friends???” 

 

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Olivia James

UMW

Painting

My name is Liv and my art work is an embodiment and essence of the warmth and beauty that extends from Africa and into Black Women.

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Joymara Cajoya

joymara_cajoya

 

UC Berkeley

 

Photography

The photo of me in my  East Bay apartment, wearing all black, with my laundry hamper visible in the background captures a moment of my attempt to feel myself in my body although I was actually feeling super dissociated and suffering mentally from major depression with psychotic features. This photo was taken on May 8, 2020. I was afraid to leave my home due to the pandemic in this moment.  

 

The photo of me wearing a light blue/turquoise colored blouse sitting beside my soul sister, Tangi, was taken in an SF restaurant on August 15, 2020. This photo captures my attempt to be/feel like my familiar/normal self again, although I was hearing voices and suffering from complex trauma and PTSD. 

 

The photo of me in the bathtub was taken on November 1, 2020 in the Santa Cruz Mountains. I had gotten covid tested 3-days prior and felt comfortable enough to attend a sister's birthday retreat gathering. It was a Full Moon that weekend.

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Tiara J.

notyouraveragehousedyke

Emory University

Mixed Media

Remains: Sitting with what remains in sickness and exhaustion, grief and isolation, death and crossings, intimacy and sensual relation. 

Tiara Jdot  is a death worker from Bay Area, CA. Femme's scholarly and creative work centers Black Femmes, their rituals of mourning alongside their sensual practices. In the act of familial returns, Femme now resides in New Orleans, pondering ancestral relations across time and space. 

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Kandace Moore

Poem + video + photography

Kandace Moore is a artist and entrepreneur that utilizes her gifting as a way of communication, conversation, and healing. This poem, “Dear, Black Girl” was written with the intention to remind every young girl and young girl at heart with melanin in her skin just how important she is to this world. 

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JADE CHARON

@jade_charon

Video Art

Jade Charon is a dancer, film maker and professor from Milwaukee. Her latest film, GOLD, has been featured world wide in online magazines, blog posts, and film festivals. 

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Ebony Holman

@ebonyholmann

Painting

1.” Journey of a Goddess: Eboniology “

(inspired by Reelaviolette Botts-Ward “Selfology Movement”

 2.Me 

3.”Goldlink” (inspired: Ancient Egypt History)

 4. “Innocent” 

(inspired: book Homegoing & Album Prism-Kairra Hassell)  

5. “Lion”

 (inspired: Zion-Lauryn Hill) 

6.”Almost Grown”

 (inspired: Finally- Tiffany Evans and Grown woman-Beyoncé 

7. “Mano” 

(inspired: BLM Movement “I can’t breathe”)

 8.”Black Wall Street Flag”

 (inspired: “Black History and spokenword “letter to my flag” Brave New Voices 

9. FaceTime (Braxton Baker) 

10. “Sacred Yoni” 

 ( “That Girl” -Brave new voices and “on it”- Jasmine Sullivan and “mourning my inner (black girl) child” - RBW) 

Ebony Holman , Poughkeepsie NY studied at The College of Saint Rose. I love to sing, write and paint and Quarantine has made me focus on my self love 

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MacKenzie

@mackenziejenkins -IG   @mackiejenkins -twitter

SMU (Dallas, TX)

Journal entry/poem

I am MacKenzie. I am learning to lean more into myself, and how I can become an effective educator, policy maker, and activist. The journal entry and screenshot of a tweet I made came about after thinking about fragile life is, and how grief is a gift and burden. Like this exhibit, art is beautiful and all of our lives are like art-beautiful and complex in every way. It is also an affirmation of my own journey through grief and healing.

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Heaven Jones

andro_arts_

UC Berkeley

Drawing

Covid had me at home more watching and reading media, and I saw a lack of positive representation in that media I consumed from binging shows, reading books, and looking at famous art pieces. So I decided to draw a mix of black women in animation (Canary), in science (Mae C. Jemison), putting a black woman in a piece of famous art, and creating my own character. 

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Jessica Allen

UC Berkeley

Visual Art

I created this piece in awe and inspiration to Black Feminist praxis, geographies, and divine feminine energy. I offer this video in love to all the great thinkers and minds that uplifted me out the depths during this challenging time in the pandemic. This is dedicated to mystical nature force energy and the boundless beauty of Black womxn. 

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Jaquesta Adams

UC Berkeley

Painting

I am a first-year Chemical Biology PhD student at Berkeley. I started teaching myself to draw at age 13 and continued avidly throughout high school. However, after deciding to pursue undergraduate studies in Chemistry, I found I had much less time to dedicate to creating art as I did before and my dedication waned. After the pandemic started and I found myself stuck at home with nothing but time and a need to express myself, my passion for art was reignited. This piece “Head in the Clouds” is the first I painted of a series of portraits of Black women freely intertwined with nature.

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Regina Ebo

UC Berkeley

Painting

I haven't really considered myself to be an artist, not before this painting and not after. This is my only real art piece and it came from a place of pain and grief. I was mourning the deaths of Breonna Taylor, Oluwatoyin Salau, and others taken by police brutality, misogynoir, and transphobia. It felt like my normal ways of coping weren't working anymore, so I had to try something completely different and new to me to release some of the heaviness. It was kind of therapeutic for me, but I haven't found the energy to create something like this again. I think I've been left completely drained by quarantine and everything that came with it.

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Christine Singleton

Spelman College (Atlanta, GA); J. Sargeant Reynolds Community College (Richmond, VA)

Embroidery

I am an Africana Womanist seeking to interrogate what defines joy. Quarantine has forced me to turn inwards in a quest for joy and I have discovered the joy of being myself and loving myself unconditionally. Over quarantine, I decided to dedicate more time to the study of myself and that led me to embroidering. I am able to sit in silence and focus on nothing but what is in my hands—for that is all that I am able to control. Embroidering has taught me patience, acceptance of imperfection, discipline, and love. 

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Ang(ela) Bey

Philadelphia, PA

Video Art, Writing, and Mixed Media

Angela Bey (they/them) is a Black, Queer performer, producer, playwright, and activist from Southwest Philadelphia. Their art centers complex, curious inquiries about society and the psychosis induced by systemic oppression(s). They create to ignite decolonization and radical healing, telling brutally honest stories to empower others to tell their own. A recent college-graduate, Ang’s work has premiered in Philadelphia, New York, Denver, San Francisco, and more. They are the co-creative director of Wings of Paper Theatre Co. and Shoe Box Theatre Collective.

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Simone Nia Rae

Ig: MynedExplosion TikTok: MynedExplosion fb: Simone Nia Rae

Mixed Media

My name is Simone Nia Rae and I have always felt the need to express myself creatively. The freedom that my imagination provides is like no other. My work was all done during the pandemic and I found myself doing it every day. I have Multiple Sclerosis and undergo chemotherapy, so a lot of my work reflects the Black woman as strong and as a Goddess. An imperfect perfection of the women’s human form. My work reflects the pain the sunlight the strangeness and the rabbit holes this time has put me through. This collection is my Black Goddess Collection. It stars various Goddesses reflected in mythical creatures then on to abstract Goddesses like “Black Buddha” . This work brought something out of me I never knew I had, this work is what got me through it’s what kept my attention straight on my family and surviving. These pieces feel powerful and unique . 

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Tiffanie H.

Richmond, VA

Photography + Drawing

I am a black womxn healing! A black womxn that finally is starting to love every part of herself. A black womxn who recently discovered her inner black child through non-dominant handwriting. A black womxn who represents so many other black womxn like me. A black womxn who is learning to connect to her ancestors. A black womxn who is sick & tired of police brutality against our black womxn! 

The art I submitted represents the black womxn I am! 

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Mahogany Zahra

Justice for Black Girls

writing, photography

I'm from Oakland, CA but moved to New York last summer. I use she/her pronouns. I have locs, and they teach me so much. I'm a full time student so I don't often get the chance to express or create as much as i'd like to, so i'm super grateful to have gotten the chance to participate in this exhibition that honors the humanity and creativity of Black womxn. Last year was hecka hard for me, as everyone else, in different yet similar ways. My art is my hair, and i used an infographic to walk through the stages of this loc journey of mine that brought a myriad of different emotions. I still struggle, but have significantly improved and grown since restarting locs, im very excited to see where else they take me spiritually. Give thanks to the beloved spirit that is Ms Ree for holding this space <3.

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Vivien Jenette Lee

UC Berkeley

Mixed Media

My name is Vivien Jenette Lee, I'm an artist and a writer. I'll be graduating from UC Berkeley this Spring (21). I this piece in the Black Womxn Healing Arts class offered at Cal last summer in 2020. This collage is dedicated to my Grandmothers who both passed days apart—on Nov. 2nd and November 5, 2019—right before my birthday on Nov. 6th. I've titled it "My Grandmother's Garden" because it was inspired by Alice Walker's "In Search Of Our Mothers Gardens"—"They dreamed dreams that no one knew—not even themselves", "For these grandmothers and mothers of ours were not Saints, but Artist; drive to a numb and bleeding madness by the springs of creativity in them for which there was no release. They were creators, who lived lives of spiritual waste, because they were so rich in spirituality—which is the basic of Art—that the strain of enduring their unused and unwanted talent drove them insane. Throwing away this spirituality was their pathetic attempt to lighten the soul to a weight their work-worn, sexually abused bodies could bear.", "Our mothers and grandmothers, ourselves, have not perished in the wilderness" -Alice Walker

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SOLAUREN ADAMS

Video Art + Album Cover

SoLauren is a singer and song writer with SOL Development, and has recently put out two of her own albums in the summer of 2020, featured in this exhibit. She is a proud graduate of Hampton University and an even prouder Black native of San Fransisco.

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elle henry

Visual Art

Elle is a proud mother and UCB Berkeley student who rediscovered her love for art therapy in uqarantine. 

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Colette LaViolette Mayfield

Philadelphia, PA

Mixed Media

My art work was created during Selfology Sunday, while discussing ancestral connection. This piece was an  interpretation of my visceral feelings and vision of the beautiful spirit(s) of my ancestors. 

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Alie Jones

https://www.instagram.com/aliejjones/  , https://twitter.com/Aliegator , https://www.aliejones.com/

Mills College

Mixed Media

 

Beloved: An Insistence was a series of love altars created for the Beloveds on E. 14th. My team and I created affirmation posters and chalked loving messages on the sidewalk to be mirrors of love . 

 

https://www.kqed.org/arts/13886833/the-abolitionist-fighting-sex-trafficking-with-words-and-altars

 

Floral Refractions is a meditation on joy, grief, and care. An ode to grandmas and griots. A space to slow down and be present. Using photography, video, audio, and art this installation explores the belief that healing begins within and thrives on supportive communities. This is a reflection of the acceptance felt in a grandmother’s living room, a container of warm loving energy. 
 

Chitchat with Aliecat, my 2020 episodes really explored wellness, joy, and the power of collective consciousness through conversation. https://anchor.fm/chitchat-with-aliecat

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Dominique Water

NAACP

Photography

2020 was the best year of my life. I got married and had a baby! A baby I prayed for ♥️ Lake Grey Waters. Essential to life!

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Young Women's Freedom Center
 

This altar was curated at the Young Women's Freedom Center by community members dedicated to honoring the lives of Ma'Khia Bryant+ Black girls like her whose innocence remains unprotected. We honor Nandi Perry, beloved member of the YWFC community who was tragically murdered months ago. And we stand in solidarity with all those mourning the lives of young womxn and siblings in our collective community.

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Briana Ward

Pomeroy

Arts and Crafts

Briana is an artist with disabilities who loves beading, painting and ceramics. She has 5P-minus syndrome, a rare chromosomal condition. She has been involved with art programs since youth, and even sold one piece for $100, titled Ants. Briana is currently a student in a community college course through the City College of San Francisco given at her day program at the Pomeroy Center in San Francisco.    This art course, along with a drama class, is currently at risk of losing funding due to budget cuts. Please support the Disabled Students Programs and Services’

arts and drama classes by contacting the CCSF Board of Trustees and write a letter to advocate!

https://www.ccsf.edu/about-ccsf/board-trustees

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Lathea

Photography

I am healing from the loss of the beautiful, strong, black grandmother. The person who prayed for me, fed me, and had my back like no other. I am grieving, but I know she’s with me everyday and everywhere I go. I’m thankful she was able to see me graduate as her first grandchild to get a degree. I know I made her proud. 

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Ebony DysoN

Photography

Just Black girls transitioning into women through the ups and downs in life. The sweet and the sour. Yet we rise and stand tall together in our pursuit into black womanhood. Together my girls and their girls. A village. A tribe. A sisterhood. 

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Fileve Tlaloc

University of Buffalo - Anthropology - Researcher, Alfred State College Adjunct

Drawing

I am a cis-gender, hetero, Halfrican-American, black consciousness/identity scholar, and artist. My teaching, scholarly, and artistic work focuses on identity, as well as creative cultural and philosophy sharing between the US, South Africa, and India. My artwork is influenced by my identity as the daughter of an Apartheid refugee, global political minorities, indigenous rights and the human experience. My personal yoga studies and physical practices allow me to explore and develop my body, which I use to develop realism in my art.  Throughout the 2020 Pandemic isolated me in a rural, predominantly white world, which challenged my relationship with myself and my partner. Focus on creating art helped develop my skill and exorcise the demons of the political dysfunction, white supremacy, and self-induced doubt. 

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Cassi B

Instagram- bbgcorey

Justice for Black Girls

Drawing

I'm Cassandra Borketey (Cassi), 15, and I'm a Ghanaian that resides in Canada. I titled this piece " Ode to A Blackgirl's Youth" as it sporadically tells my story through intricate details and intentionally placed drawings.

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CAMERAN NICHOLE

@cami.co.lace

Drawing

Cami is a proud graduate of Spelman College and founder + lead designer of Cami co Lace.

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NYRSHEA WILLIAMS

Mixed Media

When her youngest child graduated from high school, Nyrshea Williams decided it was her time and so she went back to college and got her degree and certification. She took a job in Barrow, AK which locals call it the Top of the World because it is the most northern city on the continent. During her first 24 hours of darkness, she started creating art and found her passion. It was after her first two craft shows, where she sold all her product, that she finally called herself an artist. Two of her pieces are hanging in the Phillipines.​

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Astria Wilson

Emory University

Poem + photography

I am graduating Master of Divinity student at Emory University's Candler School of Theology.  I consider myself, a leader, activist, advocate, scholar, and friend.  My art titled My Stuff, is birthed from the place of being constantly misunderstood by family and friends. I was tired of people feeling they had the authority to interrogate me and my life.  My second piece, Imperfection, is the reality of who I am.  I am an undone work, but yet not rejected in my incompleteness. Both pieces exhibit the backlash of carrying "too" much confidence as a Black woman.  

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Danie HADEN

The girl in me sees the girl in you

@daniehaden

Spelman College c/o 2017

Photography

These photos were actually taken in the fall right before quarantine began but they remained untouched, and quite frankly forgotten, until November of 2020. It took me a while to appreciate my own art, it always takes me a while — working on that. Here’s my mom at her grandmothers house in front of the same clothes line that’s been there since she was a girl. Eedie (my great-grandma) transcended into the ancestral realm in December 2018. She was our family’s glue. My goal was to simply get some fun shots of my mom in her natural element but it was until later that I realized I captured much more than that. I got an intimate glimpse into the life of little Dana, barefoot, playing around her grandma’s clothes and blankets drying in that crisp country air, under the warm Virginia sun. I realized that the little Black girl in me saw and made space for one of the most precious pieces of the little Black girl in her.

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bettyRose GREEN

@bettyrosenduhh (IG)

UC Berkeley

Mixed Media

Quarantine has forced me to see it as an opportunity. I used the isolation as a ton of space to process my recent experiences with intimate partner abuse and to help me reconnect with myself via my art.

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Alexis Mayfield

@imm_amazing

Emory University

Mixed Media

 Statement:

 

Quarantine has demanded a stillness that has allowed me to listen to my own heart to hear the grief, the wisdom, and the deepest desires. This art is how I have made sense of the overwhelming feelings and thoughts that I have had over the last year. It is how I’ve attempted to make a life for myself full of the feelings that I would otherwise try to stifle. This is proof that I am here, that I carry those who have been here, and I will leave things for those who come. This is light & legacy, shadows & stillness, grief & gratitude.

 

Bio:

Alexis Mayfield is a roun’ da way jawn, scholar, and artist committed to honoring the inherent brilliance of Black girls, women, and femmes. She is a third year English PhD student at Emory University where she explores pleasure as epistemology and play as methodology and their inherency to Black femme’s survival and freedom. In her art, Alexis utilizes play, experimentation, and ancestral connection to make meaning of her senses.

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Kilhah St Fort

IG: main account - @kilhah; IG: book account - @khiwords

Justice for Black Girls

Poem

I stumbled into poetry in my eighth grade English class. Rather than it appearing through the form of Shakespeare sonnets I had no connect to, it came as Brown Girl Dreaming by Jacqueline Woodson. It was the first time I saw myself, my identity as a blackgirl, through the lens of another blackgirl. From that point on, me and poetry were besties. Yet funny enough, it took quarantine for me to actually put myself at the center of my poems. With everything going on in the media and not being able to rely on my sisters the way I traditionally would, I turned to my art. My poetry became my way to work through my self doubt but also a way to document my love for myself and my blackgirlhood. 

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Chiamaka Ikpeze

Harvard University

poem

My name is Chiamaka Ikpeze and I am currently a graduate student at Harvard Graduate School of Education. I identify as a spiritual counselor and guide and wrote this piece just last week as a means to process the depth of pain and hopelessness I was grappling with in face of yet another week of death and brutality for black/ latinx/ minoritized communities in addition to the racialized trauma members of personal community were experiencing. I believe that there is nothing we are experiencing that our ancestors and elders have not and depended on that knowing to guide me through how to survive. This piece was a reflection of everything i grieved and needed.

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Kennedi Malone

Justice for Black Girls

Poem 

During quarantine, I had to confront my personal security. Coming to recognize my black girlhood as an identity under attack, I studied the history of U.S. based systems of power in tandem with my personal emotions. The vitriolic political landscape in which I began my exploration, forced me to compare my health-related isolation with the societal isolation I was beginning to feel. I took to my poetry to articulate my pain, criticism, and angst, as well as my healing. 

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Rissy McDonald

Justice for Black Girls

Poem

I'm Rissy McDonald a 16 year old Black girl in Columbia, SC. As a young Black girl, I have always been in spaces where I have been told to fight for who I am and for my freedom. From a very young age, my mom always let me know that my Black girlhood was valid, sacred, supported, and loved. I've always been extremely independent and centered on who I am. However, as I've grown up and become more and more clear on exactly who I am, I've often gotten to a point where I don't value myself as much as I value the other Black women and girls in my life. While I often go out of my way just to praise and complement Black women for literally anything they do, I turn around just to ridicule and hate myself for the same things I praised them on. This poem/journal was my message to Black girls everywhere as a reminder that they are sacred, and worthy, and loved but it was also a commitment to myself and to Black girls everywhere to hold myself in the same way that I hold others.

 

 

 

Maya Jané

IG:@Maya.Janae__ Twitter: @breathemay

Poem

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Anijah Foster

poem

I am in my first year of high-school. And I am on a journey of discovery. I love any type of art. I love the feelings I get when I view others art or when I make my own. I will one day go to Spelman College to be a multi media artist. The meaning behind my poem is the metaphorical effects a strangers words may have on someone. And the poem is me talking about the effects and letting the stranger know what they have done to me.

 

 

 

Brianna Morris

Old Dominion University

poem

My name is Briana Morris and I am from Richmond, VA. I am a 26 year old M.F.A. candidate at Old Dominion University studying Creative Writing with a concentration in nonfiction. This semester, however, I've been writing more poetry with the support of my friends and family. During my free time I enjoy writing and reading! ((I am currently reading mourning my inner[blackgirl]child))! The two poems I've included are the only ones I'm most proud of. My art usually tackles mental health, personal trauma and race/identity.

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Valeria King

UC Berkeley

Poem 

I pursue a career in science as a PhD candidate in Molecular and Cell Bio, but I express myself through art of all mediums. Writing poetry especially has been a way for me to express my emotions and cope with living in the world as a Black woman and a human being. This poem I wrote only a couple weeks into quarantine. I would sit in my room looking out the window at the trees every day and I watched them go from barren twigs to having small green buds to full limbs bearing leaves. As the days wore on and the situation with the virus and the lack of response from the US government became more and more clear, I was so frustrated. And I sat down and wrote this poem. Looking back, I remember how angry I was that there was no concerted effort to contain the outbreak and protect the American people, and the population was left to fend for themselves while the virus raged uncontrolled. Now I grieve for all the people who were lost because of those choices. 

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Sharon Saffold

Scholar, Speaker, Activist, Author

Emory Candler School of Theology

Poem + photography

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Sharon Saffold launched her career as a motivational speaker more than a decade ago after envisioning the life she wanted to live. She envisioned herself learning from celebrity motivational speaker Les Brown, traveling abroad to speak to audiences in the hundreds and thousands and changing lives. It’s a good thing Sharon had vision because all of her dreams had come true, ten years earlier then she anticipated. Sharon crafted a message; “I Won’t Take No for An Answer”, fashioned after her, “Turn No around and it’s ON now!” attitude regarding rejection.

                      

Now Sharon travels nationally and internationally speaking to audiences of professionals, social thought leaders and youths with a Giant message empowering them to create change their own lives and communities. Sharon flies high in the face of victory and success sharing with others how they too can do the same with willingness to change.

                        

To find out more about Sharon please visit www.sharonsaffold.com.

                        

Sharon Saffold is also the founder of The Giant Event. A public recognition ceremony for small businesses and individuals that want to openly applaud individual key contributors for their contributions made that lead to the successes of others.

 

To find out more about The Giant Event, LLC visit www.thegiantevent.com

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MeLoni Mahoganee Griffin

@queenlonii & @meloni.griffin

 Recent graduate of Clark Atlanta University

Poem

My name is MeLoni Griffin, I am 21 years old and I am from Albany, NY. I have a passion for dance, poetry, fashion, and all things creative. I received my Bachelors in Psychology from Clark Atlanta University and I will be starting my Master's program in Clinical Rehabilitation and Mental Health Counseling this Fall at the University of Pittsburgh. I came up with this piece during the Black Girl Heal event by Justice for Black Girls. This piece really spoke to me and I really just let my pen flow with it. The quarantine has helped me expand my creativity and get back to things by inner child loved.

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Joy Mordo

@joymordo on IG

Writing

My poems come from a place of anger. This quarantine has really made me reevaluate who I am as an individual, and what I consider right and wrong. These poems are me releasing the anger i’ve been holding as a black girl during a very trying time in my life. In writing, I hope to further heal sny wounds left my by any traumas.

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Jada Thompson

A Long Walk Home

poem

My name is Jada Thompson. I am a current senior at Hyde Park Academy High School in Chicago IL. I am 18 years old and plan on attending Xavier University of Louisiana to major in Psychology. I am a part of the program “A Long Walk Home” and I’ve been in this program for 4 years now. My Art forms are poetry, photography, and sometimes visual drawing(visual artist). I am a pretty loving family oriented person and just enjoy being around the people I love the most and just a go with the flow kinda gal

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Jae

_thelotus

Poem

My name is Jae, and I’m a 25 year old black woman currently on a journey of rediscovering and getting to know myself. I am a mom to two phenomenal black boys (who inspired this poem). I gave birth to my youngest son during quarantine & somehow found the spark to rediscover myself while carrying him. After battling depression during and after my first pregnancy, I was going through a tough season. I named my youngest in honor of one of my favorite moments in history, The Harlem Renaissance because of the beautiful changes he’s inspired in me. This piece is the beginning of me doing the things I love again and choosing myself after choosing everyone else. It marks an important move in faith. I am elated to share it with you all. Love and blessings to you all. 

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Natalie Jasmine Harris

@nataliearising (IG), @filmxnatalie (Twitter)

I graduated from NYU in May 2020

Video Art

My name is Natalie Jasmine Harris, and I am the director of "The Small Things." I received my BFA in Film and Television from NYU in May 2020. As a filmmaker, I like to tell stories that span various genres, but throughout it all, I'm passionate about representing Black girlhood, queer identity, and incorporating archives into my work. 

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Lo

@yakidsfavorite_teacher

Video Art

I’m a 24 year old elementary school teacher. I’ve also been on a weight loss/ health/ self love journey. During quarantine, I couldn’t work out how I wanted to with the gyms being closed, and I was using food to cope which led to weight gain. But I also used cooking to heal and to continue using my creativity. A lot of my dishes are vegan/vegetarian and/or things I made with no recipes but just came up with and created.