Born Again: Introduction to The Case for Self Study is an internal conversation about the impact of colonization on identity, ideology and actions. With breathtaking photography by Krystal René, and captivating art by Quel Hynson, Born Again is a model of reflective practice that centers ancestral wisdom and freedom; and a beautiful battle cry to revolutionary free-spirits.
Born Again is featured on Blurb’s Staff Picks list.
VIDEO
trailer for “to•get•HER | womanism & the dallas renaissance”, 2024
This is the trailer for an upcoming visual journal (documentary) that explores the extraordinary journey of a group of Dallas-based Black women artists and gallerists who, despite facing initial adversity and limited support, defied the odds and have achieved international acclaim after years of being ignored by Dallas’ mainstream art community. In-depth interviews with a selection of artists and advocates including Daisha Board, Missy Burton, CHOKE, Jennifer Monet Cowley, Valerie Gillepsie, Stacie Monday, Classi Nance, and Evita Tezeno, peel back the layers of art and culture in present-day Dallas, Texas. Their voices uplift a critical herstory that illustrates the power and impact of Black Women on the city of Dallas.
About Daughter of Dallas, 2024
J LeShaé is an artist, educator, and activist who is obsessed with freedom. She examines self, spirit, and society through the lens of ancient, aboriginal, and matriarchal cultures; and disrupts western colonial patriarchal canons with countercultural expressions of truth and power. J heads the Daughter of Dallas initiative, a journalistic campaign that fuses arts, activism, and education in service of archiving the diverse narratives of arts and culture in Dallas, TX.
trailer for “dynasty: a peculiar search for totality”, 2020
“Dynasty: The Peculiar Search for Totality” is a photographic series by Missy Burton that explores the timeline of one family’s search for freedom. J LeShaé served as the Historical Consultant on the project, and was commissioned to film and produce the video trailer. She also modeled as “Akofena”, the matriarch of the fictional family. Visual Journal by: J LeShaé. Exhibitions: African American Museum of Dallas, Dallas, TX (2021).
who you callin slave?, 2019
“Who You Callin Slave” evokes the spirit of resistance often silenced in narratives about African captives, and calls us to question the language that we use in relationship to our bloodlines. Visual Journal by: J LeShaé. Camera: Krystal René. Exhibitions: Bang Bang Gun Amok/Abron Arts Center, New York, NY (2019); The Black Woman is God/Virtual (2020).
finding freedom, 2019
Finding Freedom juxtaposes freedom by “proclamation” against freedom by “declaration;” and interrogates the long-term psychological impacts of the US Emancipation Proclamation on African American activism. Visual Journal by: J LeShaé. Exhibition: Bang Bang Gun Amok/Abron Arts Center, New York, NY (2019); F.R.E.E./Goldmark Cultural Center, Dallas, TX (2019).
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MEDIA
psalm 27:1, 2020
This series of self-portraiture was composed in Burkina Faso in reflection of the control and consumption of women. The piece is a story of transformation, with each still representing a phase of transition: fear, freedom and finally, force. This visual journal is a message to all women about power: we evolve from subjected form to infinite force when we center in the field of our own divinity. Exhibitions: Contemporary Compositions/Pencil on Paper Gallery, Farmers Branch, TX (2020).
Matthew 7:14 is a nod to the original mother and the first home for all of human existence: the Black Woman, Holy of Holies. Because strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it. The intentional erasure and silencing of indigenous African spiritual ideology and of pagan histories in the modern Western Christian era, leaves our present-day populace unaware of the divine feminine that walks amongst us. Black in the photo represents the totality of all (i.e. all colors, all people, all things), and the universal black hole that births stars and galaxies. The “sky” is dotted with eyes, glaring in warped worship: awe, critique, curiosity, envy, and all other energies targeted at Black Women who dare to be divine and free. An energetic force-field radiates from her that is infinite and uncontrollable; and serves as the invisible umbilical cord that connects her to all people, for all people are her children. She is our first home, and consciously or unconsciously, we know it. Exhibition: Msanii HOUS, Carrollton, TX (2020).
In the West African culture of the Dogon, the First Word was exemplified by a fiber, and words are woven into cloth. These fabric paintings are a nod to ancient African cosmology and creation stories, both in the use of cloth to tell the stories, and in the focus of universal elements – earth, air, fire, and water – as higher energies to be honored. The element of mineral is also represented throughout each of the pieces as the addition of crystal stones. Exhibition: #ustoo Phenomenal Women/African American Museum, Dallas, TX (2019).
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