Blooming Into the Black Femme EcoVerse
This piece introduces “Into the Black Femme EcoVerse”, a project created and curated by Digital Culture Fellow, Ugoada Ikoro.
“When two or three are gathered together in My name, I am there in the midst of them.”
Matthew 18:20
"Into the Black Femme Ecoverse '' is a gathering of Black femme land stewards and healers who are coming together to channel, portal-jump and femme-i-fest love. This is a collective dreamscape that digs into the potential of how our love for Mother Earth and how her love for us, can set us free.
We reflect in stillness and in movement, calling upon Mother Earth with openness and sincerity, in rage and anger, in grief and surrender. We are asking ourselves—what radical insights, wisdom, and lessons do we consequently learn and go on to impart to our fellow living beings? How is our liberation tied to the relationships we are cultivating with Mother Earth?
I dream of co-creating ecosystems with our spiritual and earthly ancestors to reclaim flourishing lifeways rooted in Afrofeminist harmony with nature.
At the top of my Digital Culture Fellowship with Food Culture Collective, I found myself communing with the land here in West Oakland and its people on what it meant to celebrate freedom, love, and liberation through the power of Black foodways. Through my archival series, Black Food, Love + Liberation, I dug deeper and unearthed intricate networks of liberation and sovereignty through the forebears of the Bay—the mothers, sisters, and freedom fighters that made life possible for Black people. I explored everything from garden and women's clubs, to historic movements such as the Black Panther Party Survival Program.
Through this new project, Into the Black Femme Ecoverse, I explore how Black womxn in deep relationship with land and community today are reimagining their foodways through healing practices rooted in heritage and liberation. Together in conversation with 4 Black femmes across the US stewarding land and community, my fellow sou(i)l sojourners and I embraced what it means to be in mutual belonging with the places that nourish us and how it collectively transforms us.
Let's embark on a profound journey of inter-generational, interwoven wisdom gleaned from four remarkable Black femme farmers—Isa, Sanura, Jumia, and Gabe. As they transform the garden beds of the relationships to the places and spaces we call home, this multimedia exhibit invites us to ask ourselves, what future do we dream for the future descendants of Mother Earth?"
The turbulent tides are pointing us to the changes that are upon us. When we attune to Mother Earth’s rhythmic cadence, we can transcend separation and discontent. We embrace our interdependence and reciprocity with all living beings. We embrace a love that transcends hate.
How might we care for the seeds of collective liberation and thriving with the people and places we call home?
Together, let us be emboldened in that noise & serenity reverberating our power and agency out into the world. We have the power to shake up our ecologies—of justice, freedom, and our right to existence—for the better. Let us—in gathering—connect to the memories and ideas carried forward from our ancestors’ past to the living present. From our minds and hearts, yearning to explore, propagate, and amplify the transformation and healing of our planet and its people for the many, many lifetimes to come.
“Into the Black Femme Ecoverse” is an ode to Black Femme Earth Tenders. Wisdom Keepers. Dirt Tillers. Dream Keepers. Mommas. Generous Soi(u)ls. Enigmatic Beings of Creation’s Promise to Us All.
