If there’s one thing this year has taught me, it’s been to ask for (and receive) help. I’m stepping out of my comfort zone now because I NEED YOUR HELP!
This February, I’m turning 44 🪩.
I’m celebrating big—and I’m starting now. 2024 marks my 25th year with a camera in my hand. For a quarter century, I’ve been blessed to tell stories and capture moments as precious to me as they are to you. My story has been shaped by the people who’ve allowed me to SEE them, to honor their truths, and to hold space for their beauty, strength, and humanity. To each of you—thank you. My journey is what it is because you’ve trusted me with this work. 💛
To mark this milestone, I’m partnering with @buildOn to help construct a school in Guatemala for children who deserve a safe, nurturing space to learn and grow. My wish? To fundraise for 200 bricks—each $25—to make this dream a reality. Could all y’all help me reach my goal by New Year’s Eve?
Every brick you gift is a piece of peace, power, equity, and transformation. Let’s build this thing together. Donate today, link is above!
“We are each other’s harvest; we are each other’s business; we are each other’s magnitude and bond.“ ~ Gwendolyn Brooks
Magnitude and Bond: Building our Bounty left me fed and filled to the brim in so many ways. Thank you to @blackfeministfuture@omisadeburneyscott@gabrielle_eitienne and her Gathered team for inviting me into this unforgettable multi-sensory experience.
These are the spaces where we stitch timeless traditions with all that is possible. Where we can build new worlds from the ashes of our limitations and taste that magic in our mouths. Where our power is rooted and amplified through our stories. Where we’re reminded that we are the source of each other’s strength. This is how healing happens.
As above so below. We are born of salt and soil - of earth and heirloom. 🤍💧💫
🎶 “Iyesa” x Penya
I’ve reached a new summit.
It came with a bounty of lessons - each one stretching me wider and taller. I fulfilled a dream that required not just a vision of something outside of me, but a sharper vision of what was already within me. Towards the end of last year, I became even more specific about expanding my scope of possibility and spoke those intentions out loud. I proclaimed that one day I would see myself, my work, inside of the Smithsonian.
Over the years, I’ve had the opportunity to create many beautiful things with many beautiful people for many beautiful (and sometimes challenging) reasons. All of those experiences have led me to the work I feel so deeply connected to now.
Gathering stories told by the Saltwater Geechees of Hogg Hummock to support the survival of their culture, their community, and the protection of their land has been one of the greatest assignments of my career…of my life.
And just last week I was invited to see our work premiere in front of hundreds of people at The National Museum of African American History and Culture @nmaahc in D.C.. Although I’m still processing, the gravity of what that means and what it took to get here is not lost on me.
Thank you to the people who’ve trusted me to document and uplift these incredibly powerful stories. Thank you to @otrcreative for teaching me so much and for helping bring this important moment into fruition. Thank you to my love squad for pushing me further and holding me tighter throughout all of it.
I am grateful. 💫
Imagining Forward began as an invitation to gather beyond the pages of the Land, Food, and Freedom Journal. The series brought artists, storytellers, and creative workers together in Atlanta and Durham to reflect on art, liberation, memory work, and the repair of Black imagination.
Across both gatherings, we made space for sharing, witnessing, play, reflection, and practice. We asked what it means to create when our imaginations are under constant attack. We explored how art helps us remember, how story helps us repair, and how gathering helps us speak life into the futures we are still shaping.
Thank you to everyone who entered the circle, shared their work, shaped new possibilities, and reminded us that imagination is one of our most powerful tools for liberation.
Last month the bestie @prosperitycrystal and I were sitting in in the grass and this beauty appeared, seemingly out of nowhere.
We’re both madd allergic to cats, so we said “hey girl” 👋🏾 and asked her to move along.
She did not. Instead she approached willfully, but slowly, as if to let us know she came in peace (and maybe heat) but wasn’t going anywhere.
In the week that followed she settled herself in. We would acknowledge her, she would follow us around outside but was never demanding, she would circle the house and stand guard on the porch like she owned the place. She never seemed lost. As a matter of fact it felt like she was sent to find us. She brought us calm during a period of very tough transitions, and we began to look forward to her sitting at the door when we opened it.
Still, we avoided giving her anything because we weren’t necessarily inviting her to stay.
After the first week of friendly distance, she was still very sweet but made it clear that she was hungry. I caved because who lets an animal starve?
Long story short…we’ve been adopted by a cat, y’all 🫠😂.
I’m a sucker for love and she’s pretty perfect. We hadn’t even considered a name, but the moment @stretchwithangel met her, she said “Lumen.” How fitting, right?
Whether she’s here for a good time or a long time, she arrived at the right time. 🐈⬛💡🖤
A special shout out to @thepeoplespets for loving on her, adorning her with Queen things, and getting her healthy.
Spent some time yesterday reflecting with comrades about our journey through Ghana last month.
A few members shared about how welcomed we felt in the spaces we visited. They spoke about the care and generosity we experienced, and how communal our connections felt.
I was reminded that I am the descendant of someone who survived 500 years ago. Generation after generation, I am here because somebody refused to die. In those dungeons and on those ships they prayed for their children to one day return.
We were reminded that we belonged there, and that we were not visitors. They said “come home.”
All these years I’ve internalized that I am here because my people were taken and turned into property.
It never even occurred to me that I was missed.
••••••••••••
more soon come.
Eternal thanks to:
@the_kasinstitute@habeshainc@black.sustainability@blackfoodjustice
This experience went far beyond anything I could have ever imagined.
I am not the same. 🌱
Hands to the land.
Eyes to the future.
Every visit to Sapelo is a lesson in memory and resistance. Thank you for welcoming us time and time again. Thank you for sharing your stories, your labor, and your visions for a liberated future.
May our work together continue to nurture the soil, strengthen the community, and advance the promise of self-determination. Your struggle is our struggle. Your future is our future. Free the land, by any means necessary. 🌿🔥
