Modern Griots Reviews: Salome Da Voodoo Princess of Nawlins

One of the most compelling aspects about art is that it can make you feel different emotions at the same time depending on the multiple contexts that you bring to it and the representations presented to you. For example, there is a lot of conversation surrounding the multiple receptions and audiences for Kara Walker’s Marvelous […]

Basic Instructions Before Leaving Earth: Catherine Acholonu and Molara Ogundipe

Hey everyone! I am back after taking a short needed break. Last week marked the third year that I have been running this blog! Yay! Happy Anniversary! Today I return to highlight a few writers I found out about after reading Bilphena Yahwon’s post on Africa Is Done Suffering, “The Writers I Never Learned About.” […]

Art of This World: Margaret Rose Vendryes

I was walking around Jamaica Avenue in Queens, New York the other night and came across an outdoor art installation featuring work from Margaret Rose Vendryes‘ African Diva Project and work from Dominique Sindayiganza’s Roots Project. Vendreyes had previously showed her work in an exhibition at the Jamaica Center for Arts and Learning in February where she […]

Modern Griots Reviews: A Dream to Fly – The Bessie Coleman Story

This is for all the Diesel Funk fans out there and for Women’s History Month! What legacy are we leaving for others when we dare to dream our special dreams, despite all the limitations that face us or all the naysayers? That is what Madeline McCray aims to answer in her one-woman performance, A Dream […]

Rewind: Dapper Ladies

Currently, when we think of a black woman artist who showcases an androgynous or gender-bending look, we think of Janelle Monae. But, before Monae, other black women have challenged gender coding and in less accepting times, and possibly with less conventionally attractive features. Black women doing gender-bending often received less attention than when it is […]

Modern Griots Recap: Highlights from Black Comic Book Festival

Attending the Black Comic Book Festival for the first time this year introduced me to a wide scope of the comic book world from the lens of the black community and so I wanted to share some of the creators and their works that I came across while there. It was difficult walking around the […]

Otherworldly Videos: High Priestesses – Gira Dahnee + Omega Sirius Moon

Love and Death: Gira Dahnee – “Painted Waltz” Omega Sirius Moon – “OSM: DESTROY: The Trip to Shaman Rock”

Otherworldly Videos: Colored Girls Hustle’s “Afro Aliens” + Pink Oculus’ “Sweat”

Here are premieres of two videos from women taking female empowerment to higher levels: Colored Girls Hustle (Taja Lindley and Jessica Valoris) – “Afro Aliens” Donate to their Colored Girls Hustle Hard mixtape fundraiser!

Moving on the Wires: Colored Girls Hustle Hard Mixtape and Afro Aliens Video Premiere

After watching their Colored Girls Hustle videos, I wanted to give special highlight to these two women and artists, Taja Lindley and Jessica Valoris and their Colored Girls Hustle artistic creations, including jewelry, poetry and music. I am definitely attracted to their positive message and mission of self-affirmation and self-expression for women of color, whether […]

Modern Griots Interviews: Renina Jarmon and Black Girls Are From the Future Part 2

Here is part two of the Renina Jarmon interview from yesterday. Below Jarmon talks about the significance of Erykah Badu, Octavia Butler and Janelle Monae, her future plans for Black Girls Are From the Future and the future she dreams of for Black girls: 6) The book includes discussions on Octavia Butler and Janelle Monae. […]