Thevirginartiste

Ashleigh Alexandria explores issues of gender and race through the painting of bodies. Her medium is partly performative in nature and evokes ritualistic techniques steeped in African and indigenous history as a method of articulating contemporary issues affecting Black and Brown women. Recording the site-specific works with photography and film, Alexandria often distills ideas of visibility, empowerment, and objectification with herself as the subject, as seen in her 2019 Selfie series. She also works in mixed media, paint on canvas, film, and co-founded Souldega, a New York-based women's art collective. Alexandria was born and raised in New York City and studied Fine Arts at Hampton University, a historically Black college in Hampton, Virginia.'

'Virgin Skin' is a retro-futuristic photo series by Fine artist and Director Ashleigh Alexandria. This series is the combination of Alexandria's love for Film/ Film photography and Painting by using Bodypaint as the catapult to convey her message(s). In a society that is fixated on lust to an extent, she strives to use the human body to exhibit dignity and grace, at the same time using her often gritty environments to speak to her subject’s daily raw surroundings. Her works under this series are often a collaboration of the artist and the muse as she designs each work to fit the persona of her subjects. With an eye for fine art, she tends to normalizing nudity by camouflaging its presence, in turn empowering her muses and audience to embrace the vulnerability of Black bodies. Ultimately, her works are made to inspire and impact people, specifically Black and Brown women, using body paint to help them tap into their natural beauty.

Kytana Winn

Born and bred Army Brat, Kytana Winn self identifies as being a loyal daughter, an eccentric sister, an old soul, and most importantly a creative just trying to consistently create.

In the spring of 2017, she graduated from Linfield College with a Bachelor’s in Studio Arts & a minor in Art History. Kytana is now living the post-grad life as a civil servant for the state of California.

Her first love is and will always be Black & White portraiture photography, but her desire to explore the Black female body within Afro-futuristic concepts has her dedicating her primary practice to paper/digital collage. Please follow Kytana on Instagram @kytanawinnart for insights behind her artistic practice as a whole and the collages she creates.

EXPLORATIONS OF AFROFUTURISM:

It wasn’t until after Kytana entered post-grad life and began re-evaluating her approach to her overall artistic practice, that she truly committed to the surprisingly inexpensive medium of collage. She had already been contemplating the ideas of The Divine Feminine in Space, Black feminism, future-past, and Pan African Diaspora identities after reading Yatasha Womack's Afrofuturism: The world of black sci-fi and fantasy culture. However, Kytana didn't feel like her current medium, photography, could adequately address her new-found questions like, What would a divine feminine in space look like? What does the reconstruction of the black female body rooted in cybernetic evolution inspire? What kind of life-changing adventures can the Black female have in space? With these questions and visual inspiration from artists Joshua Mays, Lina Iris Viktor, Manzel Bowman, Taj Francis, Osborne Macharia, Tyra White Meadows and so many more notable artists, Kytana has begun to philosophically and visually approach the wonderfully lush world of Afrofuturism within my work.

Currently, Kytana has been unpacking these ideas through both digital and paper media. The individual images collected into a whole allow for a cohesive collage in which the viewer can find meaning both through the singular and the collective. Almost similar to that of a mural. To reiterate the open-ended narratives within her compositions, she forms the titles from the ends of short and incomplete narratives that accompany each piece, leading the reader through a stream of consciousness that abruptly ends without a definite end, encouraging the viewer to find their ...

Maddy Clifford

Maddy “MADlines” Clifford is a rapper, writer & teaching artist. She’s collaborated with Xiomara, Ryan Nicole & Zion I and was recently nominated for a GRAMMY for her feature on Alphabet Rockers’ album, “The Love.” Maddy has also spent the past ten years teaching poetry within detention centers, on college campuses, and even as far away as Uganda. She has written for KQED and 48 Hills and will soon serve as a hip hop diplomat to Ukraine as a participant in Next Level, USA.

"God Talk feat. Xiomara" is a song, music video and community event that centered Black women's radical imaginations, particularly within Hip-Hop music and culture. Using Octavia Butler's novel "Parable of the Sower" as inspiration, rapper MADlines reflects on "God as Change," embracing all the ways she must transform in order to channel her higher self. With incredible vocal stylings by Oakland native, Xiomara, the song demands that Black women are treated with the real respect and dignity they deserve, especially at a time when they must navigate interlocking forms of oppression based on gender, sexuality and race. The video was shot in East Oakland by Emmy-nominated director, Contessa Gayles. Gayles is also known for her CNN documentary, "The Feminist on Cellblock Y."

"MADlines - God Talk feat. Xiomara" Available Now! Get the Song: unitedmasters.com/madlines Directed by Contessa Gayles - www.contessagayles.com Special than...

Osunfemi Wanbi Njeri

Asantewaa is the Daughter of Valerie Boykin and the Granddaughter of Bertha Brandy and Gladys Boykin. She is a poet, mother, freedom fighter, and registered nurse. Asantewaa is also Co-founder of the Anti Police-Terror Project, based in Oakland California. She currently resides in Sacramento California where she founded Mental Health First and completed her first full-length collection of poetry titled, "Love, Lyric, and Liberation"
Ghia Larkins fell in love with photography at the age of 12 while spending time in the darkroom with her father. She found solace among the aroma of the developer and the meditative silence the darkroom offered. Ghia cherishes the creative process and sharing space with people who want to be seen.

Returning to the matriarchal ancient ways we must remember our ancient divination systems. This is a Sankofa experience. Bringing the esoteric knowledge of Cardiology to the new world via hip hop. I am available for readings. Ase

All in The Cards http://osunfemiwanbinjeri.bandcamp.com/track/all-in-the-cards The ancient Gods knew how to use universal laws and technology to make the bes...

Asantewaa Boykin

Asantewaa is the Daughter of Valerie Boykin and the Granddaughter of Bertha Brandy and Gladys Boykin. She is a poet, mother, freedom fighter, and registered nurse. Asantewaa is also Co-founder of the Anti Police-Terror Project, based in Oakland California. She currently resides in Sacramento California where she founded Mental Health First and completed her first full-length collection of poetry titled, "Love, Lyric, and Liberation"
Ghia Larkins fell in love with photography at the age of 12 while spending time in the darkroom with her father. She found solace among the aroma of the developer and the meditative silence the darkroom offered. Ghia cherishes the creative process and sharing space with people who want to be seen.

These pieces re-imagines, re-configures, and re-remembers one of our oldest traditions, the spoken word.

Reconnect (Collaboration with Ghia Larkins-photographer)
Reconnect ancient terms/numbers/imagery that represents "god" and reimagines them with urban vernacular and feminist lenses.
Mama (Collaboration with Ghia Larkins photographer)
This piece was created shortly aft the George Floyd rebellions. She is a mother who has accepted the conditions and is committed to fighting willing to fight.
Spaceships
this poem was inspired by the thought of "repetition" and how sometimes its harder to recognize cycles because they look different. In this poem, I tried to re-imagine what the Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade and Black Liberation Movements would look like in the time of space travel.

Daria Belle

Daria is a 14 year old artist from Oakland who uses art as a means of communication. She has drawing and creating since forever and has participated in many Art related projects. Daria loves working with graphite, paint markers, and whatever’s available. She is currently working on a mural project related to the black lives matter movement in the Bay Area.

Daria loves incorporating color into her pieces to represent diversity. She thinks that using less conventional coloring opens your mind beyond biases or stereotypes, and forces you to look at the person rather than the stigma. Daria’s work has an overarching theme of unity through struggle.

Joan Tarika Lewis

Born into two pioneering historical Black families, Joan Tarika Lewis has often been described as a Renaissance Woman. Graduate of Cal State East Bay and the Academy of Art in San Francisco.

Ms. Lewis's artistic abilities include portrait, landscape, still life, fashion illustration, greeting card design, stagecraft construction, prototype design, fictional character development, and mural design. By popular demand visual arts consultant at several Bay Area school teaching stagecraft, visual arts, and music. She was the lead designer of the Old Oakland 9th street to Comic Con's visit to Oakland acknowledging the contribution of the Black Panther Party for Self Defense. Thus entitling the exhibition 'I Wish It Were All Just A Marvel Fantasy.' She also contributed to in Karen Seneferu and Melorra Green's 'The Black Woman is God exhibitions not only with paintings Musical performances and Genealogy Workshops. For the Oakland Fine Arts Summer school, she annually teaches painting, stagecraft designs and beginning violin. Last year her musical was performed based upon West Oakland's vibrant Black community 1939. Students collectively built props featuring West Oakland's 16th street Train station, Slim Jenkins Club, Phoenix Boxing Gym, and the World Boxing Championship between John Henry Lewis and Joe Lewis.

Ms. Lewis is a Jazz Violinist having toured nationally and internationally with the legendary saxophonist John Handy with Class and the Bobby Young Project. She currently co-directs the Oakland Spirit Orchestra with Alison Streich with performances with the Prescott Circus and community performances. Ms. Lewis also participated in Jessica Care Moore's 'Black Woman Rock' concerts held at the S.F. YBCA.
Ms. Lewis has also exhibited her artwork at Joyce Gordon Gallery, Eastside Alliance, Malcolm X Jazz Festival, East Oakland Black Cultural Zone.

Being that art is life, Ms. burning desire to find clarity in her life and African origins inspired her to pursue genealogy research. This passion led to some amazing discoveries and ended up on Prof. Henry Louis Gates 'Finding Your Roots' TV series. Through TBWIG Ms. Lewis has facilitated several Genealogy Workshops on how to navigate DNA testing services, finding family documents, building family trees, and best of all finding live African distant relatives.

The Last Thing I Remembered...
I can't remember exactly when I first heard African music. It was between Mama Africa's Click Son', the trumpet call of Hugh Masekela, or Babatunde Olatunji's 'Drums of Passion'. Summertime during the 60;s when the world changed, we changed, woke up...birthed a fresh Black Conscious movement.
Mr. and Mrs. Claude Clark brought us authentic African art history and painting classes at the old Merritt College. Dr. Ruth Beckford brought us African Dance and Deborah Vaugh's Dimensions Dance Ensemble was born. So was the first Black Studies Dept. As the '60s slowly unfolded I got my first African dashiki, read They Came Before Columbus, World's Great Men of Color, 2000 Seasons, and participated in Amiri Baraka's 'Slave Ship' play. We renamed ourselves...Black and Proud...and clueless to what that entailed.
Ms. Lewis's art is about that next level of self-acceptance...becoming African again. re-assimilation..with many many layers more to peel back and wounds to heal. Equally important piecing together a shattered past of scattered family histories, lineages, and origins.
Village scenes and dancers, musicians are glimpses, partial memories. Hearing African music on vinyl was minimal compared to experiencing live music from Senegal, Guinea, Nigeria, Ghana. Ms. Lewis cried experiencing djembes played by Abdulai and Baba Malonga Casquelord, Kora played by Morikeba Kouate. My feet and bodyknew what to do. However, it took some time for my entire person to reset, re-program muscles to respond and clear my mind of racist propaganda. My next foal is repatriation. I now know where my ancestors came from...Ghana, Nigeria, Guinea, Congo, Senegal., Benin Togo. Through DNA testing miracles do happen. I have 10 living African distant cousins...with names Okorley, Ejimofo, Diakite, Amoah, and a few others Ms. Lewis don't know how to properly pronounce....yet
The Last Thing I Remembered are paintings Ms. Lewis sees as 'Blood Memory'. Glimpses into those dormant DNA cells awakened by vibration and ancestral names. She proclaims...
I am no longer a loose generalization
I am the living manifestation of African Unity that Malcolm X talked about
I am becoming whole again..connecting with living African distant cousins
I am happy
I remember...
The last thing I remembered...I am African

J LeShaé

J LeShaé is an artist, educator, and activist who is obsessed with freedom. She examines self, spirit, and society through the lens of ancient, aboriginal, and matriarchal cultures; and disrupts western colonial patriarchal canons with countercultural expressions of the interdimensional power afro-wombs.
J’s spiritual-scientific experiments have been exhibited at the African American Museum of Dallas, the Goldmark Cultural Center, the Abrons Arts Center of New York, the J. Erik Jonnson Central Library, the Msanii HOUS Gallery, and the Pencil on Paper Gallery. This licensed cosmetologist is a graduate of Clark Atlanta University and National University with a B.A. in History and M.A. in Teaching, respectively. She has studied globally in Kenya, Tanzania, Ethiopia, Burkina Faso, Cuba, Nicaragua, Belize, Mexico-Yucatan, Dubai, the Bahamas, and Puerto Rico.
J LeShaé appears in "Natural Hair the Movie," the documentary, "Building the Bridge;" and has served as a historical consultant to the award-winning photographer Missy Burton. She has spearheaded countless activist initiatives that have impacted thousands of activist educators and students across the nation and have been featured in Vox, Slate, Education Week, and the Harvard Graduate School of Education. J is the Founding Executive Director of Building Opportunities & Opening Minds (BOOM), a nonprofit leadership development organization that creates communities of affirmation, decolonization, organization, and innovation with young visionaries of color committed to liberation. She also heads Ms. J's Classroom, a decolonization campaign that fuses arts and education in service of freedom for all.

Alise’s work explores her experiences, connections to nature, and belief that all living beings deserve the right to live, love, and be free. She has exhibited work in solo and group shows in Oakland and San Francisco and live-painted at events and festivals in California and the Fiji Islands.

John 1:1 states in the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. But doesn’t all life begin with the womb? So, the womb is God. The Black Woman is mother to humanity, as the ancient Ethiopian bones of Dinknesh, or “Lucy,” remind us, yet this truth remains largely undiscussed, unexplored, and unexhibited in mainstream mediums. She is our first home. Consciously or unconsciously, we all know it... And crave it. The intentional erasure and silencing of indigenous African spiritual ideology and, more specifically, of pagan herstories, across the modern era of Western Christianity, leaves the present-day populace unaware of the divine feminine that walks amongst us. We are taught to believe that divinity is male, white, and divorced from our being. How might our world transform if we were forced to face the Black Woman's divinity?

That is the question that J. LeShaé explores with her work. Excavating the truths from our ancestries and owning the divinity in our designs, she challenges us to be fearless in the face of patriarchy, racism, and imperialism. J LeShaé protests generations of misogyny and anti-Blackness using self-portraiture to communicate her/our divinity; and reinterprets biblical folklore as herstoric truths that illustrate that the Black Woman is God.

A vignette created as an offering to our ancestors and designed to transform our relationships to them and to ourselves, "Who You Callin Slave" evokes the sp...