Esther Armah

Black Rest Episode #6: A Conversation with Dr. Deborah Willis on the Black Body at Rest In this episode of The Black Rest Podcast, Dr. Deborah Willis, a visionary photographer, scholar, and Founding Director of NYU’s Center for Black Visual Culture, joins Esther Armah, CEO of the Armah Institute of Emotional Justice to explore the radical, emotional, historical, and deeply personal meanings of Black rest. Together, they trace how a nation built on the backbreaking labor of enslaved Africans shaped Black people’s relationship to rest, worth, guilt, and exhaustion. From Otis Redding’s quiet rebellion in “(Sittin’ On) The Dock of the Bay” to photographs of Black domestic workers simply sitting, breathing, being, Willis redefines rest as an active, necessary space of healing. She shares her own struggles with rest, the guilt she carries, the labor she inherited, and the rare places where her body finally exhales—often 30,000 feet in the air. This episode asks: What does rest feel like in a Black body? Who creates rest for Black women? And how do we imagine a future where Black rest is not an interruption of labor—but a birthright? Episode participants: Esther Armah @eaarmah Deborah Willis @debwillisphoto Listen to the podcast episode on www.cbvc.nyu.edu Spotify, and Apple Podcasts Link in bio!

MOVING MASCULINITY NEW YORK: a special review 'Screening the film is a must-see. The story-telling, the narrator, the film-making all embraced captivating moments. Brava Esther! What a beautiful experience for me to witness and to feel the love and the warmth that you presented in this project. I listened and I heard and felt the engagement of all of them [the men]. We need this.' Dr. Deb Willis - award-winning, critically acclaimed Artist, Photographer, Curator, Historian; Founding Director - NYU's Center for Black Visual Culture; Winner of the 2026 AIPAD Award. NYU's Center for Black Visual Culture was a co-sponsor for MOVING MASCULINITY NEW YORK screening, and I'm honored to have been a 2022 CBVC Distinguished Activist in Residence. Thank you! Thank you to the @nyucbvc team: @joanmorgan @kalilaain #MovingMasculinityNYC #EmotionalJustice

Say goodbye to the people and the situations demanding you to be emotional mammies. Thank you for your film and your work @eaarmah Catch Episode 229 of The Homecoming Podcast with Dr. Thema for more information. Available on YouTube and all major audio platforms.

MOVING MASCULINITY NEW YORK.. a video photo-album of our screening... New York is creative home to me. I have chosen family & beloved community here. This was the first of our global screenings in a movie theater. A special, special evening with so many folks coming through. Grateful. Proud of this work, grateful to and for all the brothers who made it what it became, & especially moved by how it's moving folks. What was screened was the result of a global journey: Accra, Las Vegas, New York, New Jersey, Los Angeles, London. I worked with 3 production crews: in Accra, in Las Vegas and New York. It features Black men from ages 16 to 60. It weaves poetry, sound, story, ceremony. It is narrated & , directed by Esther A. Armah. And on April 29th, it hit its first movie screen....a special moment & culmination of the work... Special thank yous: Diallo Shabazz Darin Hallinan of Dolby Beverley Prentice-Thomas of Dolby Randy Thomas @nyucbvc - our co-sponsor. All images: @richardkoek #MovingMasculinityNYC #EmotionalJustice

I just landed in New York to this news. Thank you New York! See you on April 29th. #MovingMasculinityNewYork #EmotionalJustice

New York, you got next....press play A 911 call for Black men to do their emotional work has been made. The killings of Black women by Black men they once loved, and the fierce, contentious back & forth that has followed remind us of the urgency of that. Here's a path into doing that work. It's a resource through storytelling. Its the voices of Black men doing what is needed: giving honest voice to emotions - of turmoil & tenderness; of rage and grief, of loss, of failures...of family, and of future. Come through. April 29th at Dolby Theater. Limited Seating so RSVP VIA link at @eaarmah bio . MOVING MASCULINITY A Film on Memory, Masculinity, Race & Emotional Inheritance weaving Poetry, Sound, Story, Ceremony Post Screening Dialogue with Diallo Shabazz & Film-maker, Esther A Armah. JOIN US. #MovingMasculinity #EmotionalJustice

MOVING MASCULINITY: ACCRA: a video photo-album...press play On this evening, the work on Black masculinity moved from digital village to public encounter at The Mix Art Gallery, Osu, Accra. This is the story of that night in pictures. Pictures by @pauladdophotography #MovingMasculinityAccra #EmotionalJustice

'...silence is a way of keeping peace, we hold things inside to avoid shame or conflict...this is how I survive, this is how I learned masculinity...' MY LENS Ghanaian photographer ALEX KWESI AFARI brings us into his world, how masculinity was experienced in his home, and how it shaped his lens. Narrated by: Alex Kwesi Afari Directed by: Esther A Armah Cinematographer: Samuel Laryea The images he shot are the visual spine of the MOVING MASCULINITY project. See all those Black and white images, expressing multiple facets of Black masculinity now..here's how. MOVING MASCULINITY The Photographic Exhibition The Mix Art Gallery, Okodan Close, Osu, Accra 18th - 24th April #MovingMasculinity #EmotionalJustice

New York...made you look... YOUR SPECIAL INVITATION MOVING MASCULINITY The New York Screening + Dialogue April 29th at 6pm Dolby Theater 1350 Avenue of the Americas A Film On Memory, Masculinity, Race & Emotional Inheritance Narrated and Directed by Esther A. Armah Featuring Black men ages 16 - 60 talking tenderness, turmoil, truth and trauma... including @ibramxk @mooredarnell @_marlonpeterson @wade_davis28 @dialloshabazz @simonfrederick Cedric Brown Post-Screening Dialogue: Diallo Shabazz in conversation with Esther A. Armah NO ENTRY WITHOUT RSVP USE THE LINK at @eaarmah bio marked MOVING MASCULINITY NEW YORK. Excited to welcome you to this...let's goooooooo! #MovingMasculinity #EmotionalJustice #MMNYC

MOVING MASCULINITY ACCRA...new trailer drops...press play MY LENS a walk into the world of masculinity in Ghana. Masculinity in Ghana is shaped, taught, embodied and sustained through family, culture, tribe, history. In My Lens, photographer, ALEX KWESI AFARI, peels back the layers of family, community and culture that shape his masculinity. Global Black masculinity is shaped by systems of harm and notions of manhood that manifest in how men see themselves, how they love, how they are seen, and walk through the world. What does it mean for global Black men to do their emotional work, and engage healing with Emotional Justice? MOVING MASCULINITY An Evening of Images, Screenings, Dialogue 18th April, The Mix Art Gallery, Osu, Accra THE IMAGES Photography by Alex Kwesi Afari THE SCREENINGS – Screening 1: My Lens by Alex Kwesi Afari Screening 2: Moving Masculinity – a film on Memory, Masculinity, Race, Emotional Inheritance narrated and directed by Esther A. Armah THE DIALOGUE A Post-Screening Dialogue featuring Kobby Graham - Writer, Activist, Scholar, Cultural Strategst, Derick Botsyoe – Men for Social Change Samuel Lamptey – Act for Change William Plange – No Human Is Useless The Space is shaped, held and led by Lead Healing Facilitator for The Armah Institute of Emotional Justice – Nyamal Tutdeal. ENTRANCE IS WITH RSVP and the seats are going fast. Use tthe link @eaarmah bio marked MOVING MASCULINITY ACCRA. #MovingMasculinity #EmotionalJustice

.Boys are taught to cut off certain feelings. To shape ourselves into tools and weapons. Tools to provide. Weapons to protect...' writes Kobby Graham in 'On Masculinity, Music and the Will to Change. KOBBY GRAHAM: Writer, Educator, Cultural Researcher and DJ explores masculinity, grief and vulnerability in his work, and in his upcoming memoir. He brings this lens as he leads the post screenings dialogue for our MOVING MASCULINITY event at The Mix on April 18th. Join Him & US For... An Evening of Images, Screenings and Dialogue Watch MY LENS - a video artist statement by Alex Kwesi Afari Watch MOVING MASCULINITY - a film on Memory, Masculinity, Race and Emotional Inheritance narrated and directed by Esther A. Armah Engage with our panel William Plange Derick Botsyoe Samuel Lamptey Your Are Invited. Seats Are Going Fast. MOVING MASCULINITY - THE ACCRA SCREENING April 18th at 6pm The Mix Art Gallery, Osu, Accra ENTRANCE IS WITH RSVP ONLY VIA the link @eaarmah bio marked MOVING MASCULINITY ACCRA. #MovingMasculinity #EmotionalJustice

here's a reminder....meet your panel William Plange Creator of No Human Is Useless, he spokes movingly on depression for men in Ghana, and the importance of getting help, and honoring your own humanity Derick Botsyoe Creator of Men for Social Change has a passion for working on masculinity in Ghana,, and making an impact to transform masculinity in Ghana so it can be fully engaged as a force for good Samuel Lamptey Programmes manager of Act For Change leads a Men's Transformation programme in Accra's Jamestown where theater and storytelling are used as tools to engage, challenge and explore what masculinity in Ghana is, who it fails, and what it can become We're counting down to hear from them as part of.... MOVING MASCULINITY ACCRA An Evening of Images, Screenings and Dialogue April 18th at 6pm The Mix, Osu, Accra Watch Alex Kwesi Afari's artist statement MY LENS - he explores the masculinity of his own family in Ghana, how that shapes him, and what MOVING MASCULINITY offered him Then watch MOVING MASCULINITY The Emotional Justice Digital Village - a film narrated and directed by Esther A. Armah which engages masculinity  in the US and the UK and features men from 16 - 60 talking love, loss, grief, shame, vulnerability, safety, freedom and change. This is your reminder. The countdown continues. No Entrance without your RSVP - use the link @eaarmah bio marked MOVING MASCULINITY ACCRA #MovingMasculinity #EmotionalJustice