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Jenissa Sullivan

@ancestral_memory

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Trini🇹🇹 in Atl Creating Chic Spaces & Outfits. Designing/Thrifting/Reading/Travelling/Reppin' my culture!
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Since I was a child, thanks to truly patriotic parents, every month in my home has always been Calypso History Month. But there’s something about dedicating time to commemorate this important part of Trinbagonian culture. Here in Atlanta, it gives me a little taste of home to put on these classics and dance a little as I cook a Trinbagonian meal. What are your favourite kaiso/calypso songs by Lord Kitchener? by @ancestral_memory
54
4 days ago
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A brief history of the steel-pan.🇹🇹 Every time Europeans tried to prohibit and restrict black people in Trinidad from tapping into their ancestral artforms; expressing joy and reclaiming their humanity through art, black people found a way. The steel-pan is the living embodiment of that. ❤️ At a time when our Prime Minister - a woman whose ancestors experienced their share of oppression and injustice at the hands of the British - seems intent on returning our nation to imperialism and tyranny, I hope that the history of the steel-pan reminds us that political/social activism can take many forms and that we use them. 🇹🇹❤️🇹🇹 taken in Trinidad and Tobago by @ancestral_memory
257
12 days ago
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I turn 45 in three months.😳 Here are 5 things I wish I did at 35: 💕Did it scared - I wish I jumped at my dreams even when they seemed big and scary. Taking little steps every day instead of overthinking things would have been more effective. 💕Chosen completion over perfection. The illusion of perfection has been my biggest obstacle. It has caused procrastination and leaning on the excuse of waiting for the right time. The right time has always just been the present moment. Also, I’ve realised that I could have learned from starting. 💕Sought mentorship- there are other black women who have valuable insight about creative entrepreneurship as a black woman. Their knowledge and support could helped me on my path. 💕Travelled more- although I travelled a lot as a flight attendant of ten years, I wish I travelled even more then. 💕Frozen my eggs. It’s too painful to go into detail now but I wish I had invested in this reproductive option even before I turned 35. by @ancestral_memory
25
15 days ago
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Happy Independence Day to the beautiful islands that birthed and nurtured me. 🇹🇹 I am fiercely proud to carry your passport. No matter how long I may be away from you, nothing can erase the fact that I was born in Port of Spain General Hospital and my navel string is buried in your soil. lol. I feel blessed to be Trinbagonian. These twin islands have given the world not only the steelpan, limbo, Soca & Calypso, incredible cuisine, contemporary Caribbean Carnival and J’Ouvert but luminous literary minds. Here are a few books by Trinbagonian authors to celebrate T&T Independence today. These books will give you a taste of the Trinbagonian life, at home and even abroad. *This is not a definitive list. taken in Trinidad and Tobago by @ancestral_memory
96
a month ago
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Isn’t this nightie and hairstyle very Caribbean grandma coded?😌 Happy Sunday dahlins ! I hope that you’re enjoying the comfort of your home and if you don’t currently have your own personal space of peace, I wish that for you. I’m currently at work during a 50% off sale at Anthropologie but this was me yesterday. taken in Atlanta, Georgia by @ancestral_memory
75
a month ago
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If you’re unapologetically a homebody, raise your hand.🙋🏾‍♀️ {For me that’s even more so when I’m in the U.S. When I’m back home in the Caribbean, I feel more inspired to be outside and social.} Anyway, l’ve been embracing my reclusive tendencies so having cute sleep ware & tea cups/mugs makes sleep and lounging around the house feel more luxurious. 🌞 Most of the pajamas {except Saturday’s} & mugs {except Wednesday’s} I bought on extra sale at Anthropologie. Those others I thrifted. taken in Atlanta, Georgia by @ancestral_memory
33
a month ago
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Life lately and not so lately. 🌞 Relaxing at home in a thrifted 100% cotton nightgown. It is the comfiest. Making tea with ginger & lemon. Breakfast in bed. Choosing mangoes at the farmer’s market. Making mango chow. Snippets of my nights closing the store at Anthropologie. This was our Spring display at Anthro but I never posted it before. My friend Catherine, our in-house artist puts so much time and care into creating these displays. Window shopping pretty clothes. At the JA Independence Day Dance. Me wearing a thrifted at the Buju concert. One of my favourite reads this summer. Coffee table vibes. The loveliest yellow bouquet. taken in Atlanta, Georgia by @ancestral_memory
20
a month ago
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Are you even Trini if you doh pick up Trini groceries to take back to foreign? Here are some of my Trini food staples I squeeze into my suitcase. Unlike NY or Miami, Atlanta doesn’t have many sources for Trini or Caribbean goods so most of these aren’t accessible to me here. 🌴Pepper sauce 🌴Kuchela 🌴Trini spices 🌴Trini rum 🌴Trini sweet-bread {I get this from a bakery in Arima} 🌴Dhalpuri & Paratha roti {I get this from a roti shop in Arima. It’s packed for travel} 🌴Trini snacks, from Big Foot to tamarind balls & preserved mango 🌴 Crix & Angostura bitters {I can find both in Atl but I still bring some back} 🌴This one isn’t made in T&T but Trinis swear by New Zealand cheddar cheese. 🤷🏾‍♀️ IYKYK. taken in Trinidad and Tobago by @ancestral_memory
40
2 months ago
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The first time I visited this former cocoa plantation, I was too young to grasp the significance of its history. From the bits and pieces I heard over the years, it stood out to me how the history of Lopinot has often been underscored. The French plantation owner is sometimes spoken about in almost flowery language and little mention is made of the enslaved Africans and Venezuelan migrant farmers who made Lopinot/La Reconnaissance one of a Trinidad’s thriving cocoa plantations, at a time when “cocoa was king” in Trinidad’s economy. 🖤 Earlier this year, I spent an afternoon walking around the now historically designated site. I sat on the veranda and lawn eating locally grown fruit, indulging in the leisure of which our AfroTrini ancestors who experienced enslavement on this plantation were likely deprived. So, here are some photos from that afternoon. I will still be celebrating Emancipation all this month. 🖤 I’m wearing a jumpsuit by Jamaican designer @jaejolly taken in Trinidad and Tobago by @ancestral_memory
22
2 months ago
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Happy Emancipation Day to all people of African descent in the Caribbean. 🖤✊🏾🖤 I’ve assembled a list of books, fiction and nonfiction, to celebrate the Emancipation of Slavery in the former British Caribbean. Even though this holiday is celebrated specifically in the Anglophone West Indies, I included a few books from the Francophone Caribbean too due to both the role of Haiti in black liberation in the Caribbean and the contribution of Francophone West Indians to PanAfricanism, the Negritude Movement and the subsequent Independence Movement in the Caribbean. 🖤✊🏾🖤 One of the things that these books show me is how brilliantly Caribbean luminaries have employed storytelling, political oration and poetry to articulate the complex identity and social ambitions of AfroCaribbean people. by @ancestral_memory
44
2 months ago
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5 Caribbean Books I’m Reading This Summer, pt 1 🧜🏾‍♀️🌴🪸🥥 If you’re longing for a trip to the Caribbean, I have a few books set in the Caribbean or written by Caribbean/ Caribbean descended authors to inspire you. I’ve dedicated this summer to #readingcaribbean to bring a piece of home to me. With characters as vibrant as our islands and prose as colourful as our vernacular, I’m excited to share these five novels. 🌞Last Night In Brooklyn by Xochitl Gonzalez 🌞Smallie by Eden McKenzie-Goddard 🌞Let Me Liberate You by Andie Davis 🌞 A House For Miss Pauline by Diana McCaulay 🌞Ibis by Justin Haynes Stay tuned for part 2! by @ancestral_memory
14
2 months ago
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Make some Trini mango chow with me. 🌞 If there’s a staple way Trinis eat their fruit, it’s chow - a spicy concoction that we treat almost all our fruit to. The recipe is easy…well actually, I’ll just share a list of ingredients since you can play around with the amount of each ingredient according to what works for your taste buds. *mango *garlic *salt *habanero or scotch bonnet pepper *chadon beni {If you live in the U.S., you might see this called culantro in your international Farmer’s Market}. by @ancestral_memory
24
3 months ago
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