afi venessa

@okmaispersonnteteask Scroll Book — Prototype I “I am like you—breathing in this horror unfolding halfway across our world—a horror that is bigger than all of us and, at the same time, fits in the palm of our hands, even when clenched in a fist.” Self-conflicting, addictive, yet nonetheless informative, this book questions my relationship with social media platforms. In joining @j7md ’s micro-residency, I finally unearthed the “personneteask print” file where I’d been compiling memes I’ve found, made or edited; and posted on @okmaispersonneteask since 2014. There’s solace in persistently maintaining the whimsical experience of early IG, where meme posts liked by 9 of your friends were equally reflective of a valuable and sexy digital existence. When I found myself oscillating, within the split second of a scroll, between laughter at a Dr. Umar meme and the stark realities of Gaza’s 470 days of resistance, Sudan’s bleeding to UAE’s normalization or the sacrificial land of Congo that enables me an iPhone in the first place… The discomforting angst of my positionality and privilege became a visceral confrontation. As Jenna Hamed & I—Palestinian-American & Ghanaian-FrenchCanadian—publishers collaborated, our conversations explored the long lineage of Black/African and Palestinian solidarity, solidarity efforts in NYC, our homeland trips, commonalities in our respective ancestral practices, and shared experiences. Timely, amidst our week-long residency, a ceasefire was announced, marking the end of a monumental cycle. Our struggle and solidarity are as endless as a mindless scroll; with the @okmaispersonneteask book, we aim to archive this historical moment. In provoking reflection, while eliciting a chuckle, we materialize the visual and screening culture of these turbulent times.

Back this year as scholar-in-residence @thefreeblackwomenslibrary !!!! Sharing programming info below for our first of 3 sessions this spring/summer☀️& link event in my bio. Looking forward to sharing all I’ve been learning and thank you once again to The Free Black Women’s Library for continuously doing the Lord’s work. —————————- Session I Archive, Memory & Erasure: Who is Visible in African Cinema’s History? Our first session questions the construction of Black African cinema’s history by centering pioneering women whose contributions have been persistently fragmented or completely omitted. We engage with the lives, work, and legacies of Thérèse Sita-Bella(Cameroon), Safi Faye (Sénégal), Sarah Maldoror (Guadeloupe/Angola/Algeria), Lola Fani-Kayode (Nigeria), and Efua Sutherland (Ghana). The lecture will be infused with screened fragments and excerpts from key works, including: Battle of Algiers (1966), Araba, the Village Girl (1967), Monangambée (1968), Sambizanga (1972), Kaddu Beykat (1975), Mirror in the Sun (1976–78), Fad’jal (1979), Dessert for Constance (1981), and Mossane (1996). With segments from the filmmakers themselves from Sisters of the Screen (Beti Ellerson, 2002) Moving beyond dominant historical narratives that simply would position them as “firsts”, we situate these filmmakers within broader networks of intellectual, artistic, and political labor. We aim to uncover how the normalized absence of women in cultural histories is produced, and how it might be challenged. How do we write histories when the visual record is incomplete or absent? What forms of knowledge emerge through visual fragments and dispersed traces? And how might Afrofeminist and decolonial approaches to historiography allow us to reframe visibility not as a given, but as something actively contested and reclaimed? What does it mean to remember when you can’t always see?

In awe of the survey of seminal Sudanese artist Mohammad Omer Khalil. Grateful to the amazing curators Jenna Hamed and Amina Ahmed for the intimate Reading & Listening Room at @jayseveninc (open Mondays 1-8PM), and the chance to spend time with a living legend. Part of ‘Common Ground’, spanning Blackburn Study Center, Twelve Gates Arts (Philly), and satellite exhibitions at Maqam Studio (Brooklyn), and the Arab American National Museum (Dearborn, MI), with displays at the New York Public Library and The Metropolitan Museum of Art. Khalil shared how, in Sudan, Fridays meant the resonating voice of Egyptian songstress Umm Kulthūm would fill the airways; music he once resisted until seeing her live. After that, he’d turn the volume all the way up: “listening to her was like listening to Bob Dylan [for Americans].” Between laughter and necessary silences, we listened to Arab and African sounds on vinyl, sipped tea, and ate dates. As part of the multitude of activations happening in light of the ‘Common Ground’ exhibition series; and in echo with Khalil’s collage painting, “Homage to Umm Kalthoum” (2013) ; join these scheduled programs: 
Maqām Studio — Sunday, April 26, 3PM
A live tribute with vocalist George Ziadeh, reinterpreting the 13th-century quatrains of the Persian poet Omar Khayyam and the final song Umm Kulthum performed in 1973; guiding listeners into tarab, that state of musical enchantment. Anthology Film Archive — May 5 at 6:15PM This documentary follows the rise to widespread fame of Egyptian singer Umm Kūlthum: most powerful voices in Egypt and across the Arab world.

Les invitamos este domingo a la presentación de nuestro cuadernillo Emblematic Elusions IV en @thirdborn.mx Habrá proyecciones (Machos, Bramadero, Una rata en la oscuridad) y un panel de discusión sobre cine y archivo. Nos encantará verles por ahí 🖤

On Visualizing Black Women's Labour Panel Discussion and Book Launch with Qiana Mestrich, Chiedza Pasipanodya and Afi Venessa Appiah, moderated by Liz Ikiriko 🗓️ Saturday, March 28, 2026 📍 Gallery TPW ⏰ 11AM-1PM _CODA_ is only a few days away! ⚡️ On Saturday morning, join NY-based artist, writer and photo historian Qiana Mestrich, along with '___a lineage of transgression___' artist Chiedza Pasipanodya and writer/publisher Afi Venessa Appiah (afi press) as they draw on their own research and practices to discuss the underrecognized and often exploited labour (physical, intellectual and otherwise) practices of Black women. Join us after for a book signing with Qiana Mestrich to celebrate the launch of 'Decolonization and Diversity in Contemporary Photography: The Dodge & Burn Interviews', published with Routledge. 🔗 Register now through the link in our bio! — 📸 (1): Qiana Mestrich, 'Untitled (The Ideal File Clerk)' from 'Reinforcements', 2023. Courtesy of the artist.

Muy felices de presentar oficialmente nuestro booklet en colaboración con @afi.onl ✨ Este proyecto nace del trabajo continuo de Archivo Jotxs y se materializa en Emblematic Elusions IV: A Glimpse into Archivo Jotxs, una publicación que reúne parte de este proceso de investigación. Gracias a @okmaispersonneteask y a todo el equipo de @thirdborn.mx por hacerlo posible, así como a @oona.zyman y a todas las personas que acompañaron este proceso 💛 La presentación tendrá lugar el domingo 29 de marzo en @thirdborn.mx , acompañada de una serie de proyecciones y un panel de conversación. Nos emociona especialmente contar en el panel con: @leondaniel_mx @elinsulto @alvareztostado Nos vemos ahí ✨ Póster por @dani.el.h

You are invited to the ‘Abundance/Scarcity’ Conference at Martin Scorsese’s Dept. of Cinema Studies, organized by its new PhD cohort: yours truly, Jorge Luis Borregales Vélez, Yuxin He & Clone Wen. Friday Feb 27-March 1st Keynote Speaker: Dr. Debashree Mukherjee Between too much and not enough, cinema and media studies move within the paradoxes of care and neglect, curation and erasure, framing and forgetting. It is within this unstable space that ethical, aesthetic, and material questions emerge about how we preserve, circulate, and engage with images across uneven global infrastructures. This graduate conference invites scholars, artists, archivists, and practitioners to think dialectically about abundance and scarcity as material reflections, fiscal realities, epistemic conditions, and aesthetic strategies across cinema and media. Rather than lamenting scarcity or celebrating abundance, this conference asks what kind of zone of potentiality scarcity delineates, and how it enables us to encounter the abundant possibilities of methodologies; Ultimately, how could we turn insufficiency itself into a critical and creative abundance for studying cinema and media? big shoutout @maxitype_com for posters and fonts

aaaaah @pioneerworks ‘ Press Play 2025 was so much funnnn!!! Big, big shoutout to the new and familiar souls who stopped by the @afi.onl / @anteism_books table, your fruitful exchanges, laughs, and genuine curiosity truly carried the weekend. Big ups to our fellow bookmakers keeping the love of print eternal, especially my wonderful table neighbors, @thirdplacezine @_venndiagramm @51personaeproject 📖♾️ It’s such a joy to be able to showcase the incredible titles we’ve created over the years with inspiring artists & collaborators who make our table a maximalist square of gems; @sougwen , @saintheron , @afrotectopia @ibiyane , @nicholasgrenier , @archivojotxs @letramuertainc @j7md , Nick Montfort, Nicholas Grenier, Casey Reas , @book_arts_solidarity Endless thanks the organizing team at Press Play for holding such a beautiful space for kinship in print 🩶

A slightly delayed dispatch, but some moments ask to be carried slowly. From table sisters at Press Play Book Fair 2024 to this gathering late 2025 within the @afrotectopia universe, such full-circle moments are what I live forrr. It was truly an honor to contribute my film essay “Space’s Sensuousness” to this living constellation of radical imagination, futurity, and Black speculative thought. Here’s a look back from the screening of ‘Black Metal’ and the post-screening conversation between exhibition curator @ariciano and myself. Hosted and organized by @montclair_galleries in celebration of the exhibition ‘The Age of Black Metal’, this gathering moved through vibrant and necessary conversations, connecting the ‘Black Metal’ film to wider canons of consciousness and culture, from Judith Butler to Frantz Fanon. Together, we considered what it might mean to expand towards the design of ideal futures we can actively author together, all while remaining grounded in our immediate societal urgencies. Endless shout of love to Ari for the invitation, trust, and care. I’m continuously in awe of your vision and dedication to it, to @afrotectopia ’s luminous community, and to Alyssa and Eric of Montclair University for their spectacular work on this exhibition. ✨ ***Please DM if you’d like a zine kept for you, we have extras***

!!! 𝗡𝗘𝗪 𝗦𝗣𝗘𝗖𝗜𝗔𝗟 𝗘𝗗𝗜𝗧𝗜𝗢𝗡 𝗢𝗨𝗧 𝗡𝗢𝗪 !!! 𝘌𝘮𝘣𝘭𝘦𝘮𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘤 𝘌𝘭𝘶𝘴𝘪𝘰𝘯𝘴 𝘐𝘝: 𝘈 𝘎𝘭𝘪𝘮𝘱𝘴𝘦 𝘪𝘯𝘵𝘰 𝘈𝘳𝘤𝘩𝘪𝘷𝘰 𝘑𝘰𝘵𝘹𝘴
words by @inakimori · edited by @afi.onl This fourth and bilingual edition of 𝘌𝘮𝘣𝘭𝘦𝘮𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘤 𝘌𝘭𝘶𝘴𝘪𝘰𝘯𝘴 casts its eye toward Mexican cinema’s queer undercurrent with @archivojotxs , a research archive based in Mexico City that traces 700+ films revealing the presence and erasure of non-heterosexual, non-binary, and trans identities on screen. Across three seminal film essays:
𝘔𝘢𝘤𝘩𝘰𝘴 (1990),
𝘜𝘯𝘢 𝘙𝘢𝘵𝘢 𝘦𝘯 𝘭𝘢 𝘖𝘴𝘤𝘶𝘳𝘪𝘥𝘢𝘥 (1979), and
𝘉𝘳𝘢𝘮𝘢𝘥𝘦𝘳𝘰 (2007),
this edition dissects the spectral and the erotic as cinematic languages of both resistance and repression. Iñaki Mori fills a critical gap in Mexican film studies, offering a rare and robust history of a neglected cinema. From Enrique Gómez Vadillo’s subversion of the ‘cine de ficheras’ genre, to Alfredo Salazar’s sapphic horror, to Julián Hernández’s tender reimagining of male-to-male intimacy; these texts unearth the contradictions that have shaped Mexican cinema’s negotiation of sexuality, colorism, nationalism, and class. The pages of 𝘌𝘮𝘣𝘭𝘦𝘮𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘤 𝘌𝘭𝘶𝘴𝘪𝘰𝘯𝘴 𝘐𝘝 unfold as a site of cinematic recovery and queer historiography foregrounding lost, censored, and maligned works that expand who has the right to look (and to desire) in Latin American film. ༒CLICK SHOP ON AFI.ONL NOW NOW NOW༒ — Research & Words · @inakimori of @archivojotxs 
Edited · @afi.onl 
 Design · @afi.onl with the help of @julietteduhe & @dani.el.h 
Spanish Title Logo · @letramuertainc Printed and Binded · @bookartca | @anteism_books Copy-edited in English · @nataliewco 
Copy-edited in Spanish · @inakimori Publishing & Distribution Collaborators · @anteism_books & @letramuertainc 
Photos · @samorius of @letramuertainc *A special thank you to filmmaker Julian Hernandez for sharing original and unrevealed images as well as the original poster of ‘Bramadero’, which we offer in the special edition.*

Yes yes, the first woman to publish on Turtle Island (North America) was a Black woman in Canada. In 𝙱𝚕𝚊𝚌𝚔 𝙲𝚊𝚗𝚊𝚍𝚒𝚊𝚗 𝙿𝚛𝚒𝚗𝚝 𝙲𝚞𝚕𝚝𝚞𝚛𝚎𝚜: 𝙾𝚏 𝚀𝚞𝚒𝚎𝚝 𝚊𝚗𝚍 𝙴𝚗𝚍𝚞𝚛𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝙻𝚎𝚐𝚊𝚌𝚒𝚎𝚜 for @contemporaryand , I trace a lineage from Mary Ann Shadd Cary to the hands-on book-vessels of small Black Canadian presses, and onward to my own practice in independent publishing today. With a focus on presences that both preserve and create the futures of Black print in the “True North”, including spaces like @anteism_books and @artexte , the essay reflects on a quiet yet enduring legacy of creation, care, and archival insistence. Thank you @artofetheltawe and Teresa Sigmund for your thorough editorial process Read the essay on @contemporaryand

Comment les pratiques éditoriales diasporiques redéfinissent-elles la manière d’écrire, de collaborer et de publier ?  Cette table ronde réunit Afi Venessa Appiah, Ethel Tawe et James Oscar autour des nouvelles formes de création et de circulation du savoir dans la diaspora noire. Entre écriture expérimentale, expression multilingue et pratiques collectives, ils et elles interrogent les gestes d’édition comme espaces de liberté et de réinvention. ➡️ Activité gratuite (en anglais), en format hybride, présentée le mercredi 19 novembre, de 15h à 16h, au Goethe-Institut Montréal. Dans le cadre du Symposium Réseaux de l’Atlantique Noir, organisé par Nigra Iuventa en partenariat avec le Consulat général de France à Québec et le Goethe-Institut de Montréal 🔗 Programmation complète en bio. — How are Black diasporic editorial practices reimagining writing, collaboration, and publishing today? Comment les pratiques éditoriales diasporiques redéfinissent-elles la manière d’écrire, de collaborer et de publier ? This conversation brings together writers, editors, and cultural producers who challenge conventional modes of publishing to imagine new editorial and narrative possibilities within Black diasporic thought. The discussion will examine how editors and authors sustain spaces for creative risk and experimentation across the Black Atlantic. ➡️ Free event (in English), held in a hybrid format on Wednesday, November 19, from 3 p.m. to 4 p.m., at the Goethe-Institut Montréal. ♿ Accessible to people with reduced mobility  Part of the Black Atlantic Networks Symposium, organized by Nigra Iuventa in partnership with the Consulate General of France in Québec and the Goethe-Institut Montréal. 
🔗 Full program in bio.