The future of Black and Indigenous people is one of healing through the liberation of the land.
This photo document series is reflective of the awakening power that emerges from Black and Indigenous resistance movements that I have witness to, alongside my journey of deepening my relationship with land and using philosophies of the land to build a world outside settler colonialism.
In this second iteration of my largest body of work, I look at the lessons from the Winnemucca Indian Colony Frontline, in Winnemucca, Nevada, taking a further look into ego and trauma.
How does ego and trauma affect us in the way we show up to resistance spaces?
How can land help us heal and build a world outside of settler colonialism?
What is your relationship to land?..
- Akira, Light that heals
Through the arts, I capture truths of the land
and with it build a world outside settler colonialism.
My work focuses showing inner city kids like myself
a place on the land they can heal and belong to.
RAMAPO, GOOD RELATIVES is the liberating visual of under recognized New Jersey, New York and Connecticut tribal peoples, The Ramapough. The photographs and microfilm imagery has been rematriated and liberated from the Vineland NJ residential school archives, while the vibrant depictions of land and water are exactly that.
RAMAPO, GOOD RELATIVES is placing relatives back in good relation with one another and space. August 15th, 2023 lead Ramapough Clan Mother and Cultural Knowledge Bearer passed away at 72 years of life. Kathleen Spirit Dancer Mann Crippen's famous beadwork and baby moccasins (which she would make for every new child of the tribe), are included in this exhibition as an honoring.
Keshia Talking Waters De Freece Lawrence is a Ramapough Lenape Munsee, Deer Clan member. De Freece’s artwork is to evoke ecosystem, community and self- negotiation through lively positioning, colors and more than human relatives.
bee's work attempts to archive the intimate bond that exists between land and body.
bee is a land-based creative archiving personal stories and experiences using mediums like poetry, photography, and black-book sketching.