Abayomi Brownfield
"Acts of Unearthing"
2021
Photograph
Courtesy the artist

My practice honors my ancestors' stories by creating visual representations of Black futures grounded in African and Black Native Freedmencultural practices and histories. Uncovering my family's history led me to reflect on the ways colonialism constructs womanhood and race. Reconnecting with ancestral traditions has made me realize that healing is bound to the land, water, and preserving cultural traditions. Acts of Unearthing and The Water Carries Us represent the resistance and resilience that weave women from the African diaspora together.