Asase Ye Duru (“The Earth Has Weight” – Akan proverb)
Asase Ye Duru is a multimedia narrative illuminating the profound significance of land in shaping experiences and legacies in the Black American South, serving as a transmission site of African technologies across the diaspora. Rooted in West African cosmology and Black Southern ecological memory, this multi-part series honors the Earth as a living archive, altar, and ancestor. Structured around six elemental portals—Soil, Water, Air, Seed, Fire, and Spirit—Asase Ye Duru unfolds as an immersive journey through grief, memory, and resilience. Each part reveals a different facet of our relationship to land and lineage.
SOIL: Through ritual, analog photography, film, natural material installations, and sonic storytelling, the project challenges dominant narratives about rural Mississippi, highlighting Black agency, resilience, and creativity in shaping the land and culture. The rich topography of Mississippi soil serves as a microcosm of the expansive nature of blackness by exalting the voices of Black and Indigenous communities whose legacies indelibly shape the immaterial topography of the land. By centering often-overlooked narratives, the series prompts reflection on broader themes of displacement, identity, and Black cultural memory in Mississippi.
Asase Ye Duru: SOIL
The Earth Holds Weight. A deep prayer and labor of love rooted in Mississippi transmitted to the Motherland and the global diaspora. I’m honored to unveil this work today.
I’m deeply grateful for all of the people, stories, Ancestors, and sacred grounds in Mississippi that continuously shape this work.
Asase Ye Duru: SOIL initiates my debut as both a director and muse — an evolution in both my healing and artistic practices.
As I unearth the story of SOIL, I will be speaking to the sentient elements of artistic projects and how they will work you! This work was initiated during Scorpio season under the full moon in Taurus…here we are 6 months later in Taurus season under the full moon in Scorpio. 🌕 So many themes reflected in this work I’m excited to share.
This work emerged during my time as an artist-in-residence at The Mississippi Center for Cultural Production aka @sippculture. Thank you so much Sipp Culture for believing in this work and your continuous support. Utica is the birthplace of this project and I will forever be grateful.
Thank you for the generosity of my friends, all Southern Creatives, who showed up in Utica and poured your time, love, and energy into something so important to me. Look at what WE created!
I’m so grateful that I am held and supported by people that I deeply trust as I steward this project.
Thank you.
Locations: @sippculture & Turner Estates Farm
Images: @sydney.a.foster
Videographer: @chauncey.mangum
Drone Operator: @jcannonfilms x @backsouthproductions
Floral Designer: @dreamscapeflorals_
Production Assitant: @kristenkreates
Stylist: @lenastylehouse
White Veil: @zimrie__
Project Manager: @kachoo
Creative Doula: @a.j.haynes
Creative Director/Steward/Muse: @nanakumiart
Special thanks to my dear friend Dr. Robin Vander. Thank you for being a deep source of inspiration. Thank you for the richness of your words, and naming the visual language of the project — the body and the land as text.