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jenné afiya

@left_thigh

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(re) emerging with new work
curating films (always)
& learning the bees with @sajthefarmer
Baltimore 🦋

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“If you want to know what this tradition was like when I first got started go watch Voices of The Gods.”

This is what my Iya told me when I first began my studies with her. In a way that was by no means a suggestion. And of course I listened, and this film has sat so close to my heart, dreams, and imagination since.

In just two weeks on Thursday, June 18th at 7p at The SNF Parkway I’ll get to watch this brilliant documentary again, newly-restored, on the big screen, and with you!

This screening will also mark the premiere of A BIRTH OF REMEMBRANCE directed by my truly incomparable visionary-scholar-sister-friend Sharayna Ashanti. Who will also moderate the in-person Q&A with special guests, including director Al Santana, after the film.

Presented by The Luminal Theater alongside the Caribbean Cultural Center African Diaspora Institute.

Baltimore has such a rich community of priests, practitioners, scholars, and devotees (both past and present) who continue to be at the forefront of keeping African Traditional/Diasporic Religions thriving (and for that I am beyond grateful). So getting to present this film in this city in their presence is such a deep deep honor.

Check my stories or visit snfparkway.org for tickets and friend to tell a friend (to tell their friend) this right here is the way to kick off your Juneteenth weekend ~ see you soon!

🩵 Ifatomi taken in SNF Parkway Theatre / Maryland Film Fest by @left_thigh

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4 months ago

My folks are calling me back outside as I ring in 34 (and I’m not going to fight them on it) & it’s a blessing I get to so doing my favorite things (talking about art and watching movies)

2/27 l RICH IN WHAT THEY CAN’T MEASURE
Notre Dame University l Gormley Gallery
Closing Reception & Artist Talk

Curated by the force that is Jasmine Gabrielle Washington I’ll be moderating a conversation amongst the exhibitions featured artists Lisa Brown, Mathilde Mujanayi, Jahniah Kum, and Melissa
Sutherland Moss — when I say I’m honored to be “in the room” I mean it!

3/4-3/5 l Caribbean Film Series @ BAM
Luminal Theater x Third Horizon

Getting to present this series is one of my favorite times of year (yes y’all I have a whole other life as a film programmer and I adore it). We’re watching one of the best films I had the pleasure of watching in 2025 along with some stellar live Q&A’s that will really be a MUST see!

❤️‍🔥🦋❤️‍🔥 by @left_thigh

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8 months ago

Aisha Kiwanee, my beautiful sweetheart sister became an angel last week. I remember asking our father before he passed how he picked her middle name, which I’ve always loved. He said it meant “heavenly flower” and she’s exactly that now 🌺🕊️

This was all so sudden, and my family and I are in the process of making arrangements and have started a fundraiser to ensure that her wishes are carried out and that my nephew, Brandon, is cared for.

I know there’s so much need right now but if you’re able to support in anyway, whether financially for through in-kind donations, it is all so deeply appreciated. by @left_thigh

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a year ago

Hi :) Liberating a little bit of my September camera roll here (in the words of my day-one @jaynellrobincooper) 🦋

Finally dropped that substack and reflected on my “re-birthday” of sorts. I don’t think Septembers will ever be the same for me after last year. I’ll always be a Pisces born again in Virgo season.

p.s ~ another pressing of 925 SUNS is on the way. Link in bye oh (and the Substack) to order by @left_thigh

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a year ago

Yes, do it crying, as long as you’re doing it / Do it crying, but fucking do it / ‘Cause that is actually what it means to live

I’ve sat deeply deeply with these last lines from “Voices In My Head (Interlude)” on TEMS last album “Born in The Wild” (a praise album if I’ve ever heard one, more on this in the Substack to come).

In my “jesus” year. My “capital A artist” year. My “that bullet missed my head so let really do what I came here to do” year.

Full of alchemy. Trusting that I can indeed turn loss, grief, death, near-death into a joyful “must-ness” with my work that propels me from here on.

In this season of doing and betting and rebirth I am so excited to let y’all know that I am a @newcrits Fall 2025 Scholarship Recipient. Can’t wait to share with you all that comes from “What of My Mirror: Rethinking the Photographic Self-Portrait” with Shala Miller.

@niand3rthal thank you for always being on my neck and in my ear about putting my work out “there” & @itsjujubae for letting me take this magical photo of you all those years ago that was the first in my portfolio and continues to change my life 🦋 by @left_thigh

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a year ago

925 SUNS is here 🖤✨

Longer thoughts to come on this season of making and showing

The alchemy of grief

How my folks told me that putting this down wasn’t an option (at all)

@mack_river THANK YOU for all that you and your comrades poured into us this summer at the Oleander School for Negro Publishing (& for telling me when I still didn’t know what this would be that it in fact could be a ZINE)

See y’all on Saturday & Sunday at @baltimorebookfestival for The Black Zine Fair

xx by @left_thigh

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a year ago

TOMORROW IS THE DAY 💐

At the start of this year I laid down the intention to lead more with the “capital A artist” part of myself. The part of me that is enlivened by not only making work but speaking with others about their practice.

How it flows and takes shape. Evolving across space and time, from “that world” to “this”.

Thank you Inés for hearing me in that moment and for bringing me into the fold to moderate this artist talk with Aliana Grace Bailey and Brandon Donahue-Shipp starting tomorrow at 6p at Collect+Connect Gallery. When I say I am so deeply honored. It’s going to be such a beautiful time.

Full details and RSVP info are in my bio — see y’all soon :) taken in BmoreArt by @left_thigh

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a year ago

[drafts]
outfits from 32 ❤️‍🔥 by @left_thigh

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2 years ago

by @left_thigh

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2 years ago

Mom & Pops (my big angels angels)
Baltimore (probably her apartment on Belgian Ave)
Sept 1982 🦋 by @left_thigh

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2 years ago

Back when I just your Peep
I don’t really have the words right now so I’ll let Stevie, one of your favorites, speak for me
Love you forever and ever
Always (& all ways)

Carl Anthony Matthews 🕊️
12.17.57 — 12.13.24 by @left_thigh

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2 years ago

When I tell you y’all uncle still got it ✨

So glad my guy is up and feeling good!
I’ve been digging thru photo albums a lot these days, researching and gathering content as we embark on this documentary journey.

And when I tell you I am one step away from making one of these lor videos. Because when I say this man has been swagged out for decades I mean it! taken in Baltimore, Maryland by @left_thigh

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2 years ago