/blak/
This year (2023) I participated in the SohoHouse x Creative Future Collective mentorship program. For 16 weeks I got to work with other amazing artist. For this project I collaborated with Angelica Heaney where took her poems - /blak/ & For My Sisters and turned them into photographs. Down bellow is that project and the poems.
/blak/ | For My Sisters - poems by
/blak/
adjective
1. of the very darkest color owing to the absence of or complete absorption of light.
the opposite of white. like ink. like shadows. monsters. tar. dirt. berries. licorice. and
ants. like earth buried underneath fingernails. like rat-tail combs. the jar of my sister’s
hold and shine jam. like bonnet. like durag. like little torn panties. a broken belt. taylor
port breath. and the tattoo of some scripture he had. black like life beat niggas so bad
they turned into blues. like the homies cope the only way they know how. burning
their lips black again. kissin all them woods. black like city air. a concoction of engine
exhaust. blood. piss. i don’t give a fuck’s. and sewer fumes. like mother’s outliving
their babies. strange and rotten fruit. like casket attire. like grief. and liquor bottles suckled
like babas filled with lukewarm breastmilk eight days out the week. like pecola’s eyes.
the blackest. most beautiful thing i’ve ever seen. like free all my niggas. like where all my
sistas? they the caged birds that sing. like our malnourished dreams. like what is legacy?
like what is longevity? like what actually belongs to me — the very darkest color, owing
to the absence of or complete absorption of life. the opposite of white.
Ghazal For My Last Sistas
melanin on double chocolate chip / you sure are poppin’ & flavorlicious sista.
boys get swallowed / intimidated by the tough curve of your hips & intelligence sista.
they’re shook when you claim your space / the white girls called you a mean & ugly black sista.
but you smile brilliant like 87th on a saturday night / the southside stops to hear you laugh sista.
princess of chatham / the swing of that ass is royalty in house parties sista.
you betta werk / just like you’ve been workin’ in your hardest class / i am a proud sista.
a quiet but armed home / you could heal a heart & break another in the same breath sista.
ms.cabrini green / warmer than the crimson undertones of your skin / i am a blessed sista.
destiny’s children / learned that not everybody was down to be a devoted sista.
when i found myself lonelier than being alone / God led me to you my precious sistas.
tighter than fresh cornrows / thick as fleshy thighs
for my last sistas / i promise / to forever ride or die.
