i am a freedom activist.
art and education are my organizing methods.
i investigate ancient + ancestral cultures and practice reintegration. my lifelong mission is liberation.
i am a freedom activist.
art and education are my organizing methods.
i investigate ancient + ancestral cultures and practice reintegration. self-portraiture is my protest.
VIDEOGRAPHY
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. Writing/Filming/Editing: 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 so often silenced in the narratives about African captives, and calls us to question the language that we use in relationship to our bloodlines. Writing/Editing/Production: 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 juxtaposes freedom by “proclamation” against freedom by “declaration;” and interrogates the long-term psychological impacts of the US Emancipation Proclamation on African American activism. Writing/Editing/Camera/Production: J LeShaé. Exhibition: Bang Bang Gun Amok/Abron Arts Center, New York, NY (2019); F.R.E.E./Goldmark Cultural Center, Dallas, TX (2019).
PHOTOGRAPHY
journey to god, 2020
During the era of Western European imperialism, the King James Bible was used as a tool of justification for the genocide, inhumane capture, and terrorism against (ab)original people around the world. Displaced West Africans, held hostage in the Americas, employed the Christian religious system as a cover when practicing ancestral rituals and organizing escapes. These free people consistently crafted genius ways to resist the gaze of the fearful settler-colonialists who were intent on violently enforcing an illusion of race-based authority. This sophisticated communication system of American Africans is employed in this exhibition. These photos, captured in Kenya, Burkina Faso, and Ethiopia, are each assigned a bible verse that performs as a coded message that maps the journey to god. Exhibition: There Is Life In This Water/J Erik Jonson Central Library, Dallas, TX (2020).
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).
MIXED MEDIA
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).
EVENTS
daughter of woman, 2020
Daughter of Woman reclaims the throne of God from the “Son of Man” by calling for the resurrection of the Black Feminine Divine. This exhibition and benefit event celebrates the divinity of our first home and oldest ancestor: the Black Woman, and nods to 1920s, the era when women owned their power through freedom of expression. Exhibition: Daughter of Woman | Ms. J’s Classroom, Quixotic Theater, Dallas, TX.
daughter of woman, 2019
Six months prior to the Daughter of Woman Exhibition and Event, J invoked the spirit of Josephine Baker and to recreate the George Hoyningen-Huene’s 1929 capture of the artist-activist, reinforcing the brave statements she made about freedom and female body autonomy. Studio: Greg Daniels Photography, Dallas, TX.
divine design, 2019
Divine Design proposes that divinity is not an external phenomena, but an embodiment. This Rebirth Event was J’s official launch as an artist and served as the first proof of concept for Ms. J’s Classroom. Exhibition: Divine Design | Ms. J’s Classroom, Place at Tyler, Dallas, TX.
Link to: credits
credits
i am a freedom activist. art and education are my organizing methods. i investigate ancient + ancestral cultures and practice reintegration. self-portraiture is my protest.
daughter of woman, 2020
Daughter of Woman reclaims the throne of God from the “Son of Man” by calling for the resurrection of the Black Feminine Divine. This exhibition and benefit event celebrates the divinity of our first home and oldest ancestor: the Black Woman, and nods to 1920s, the era when women owned their power through freedom of expression. Exhibition: Daughter of Woman | Ms. J’s Classroom, Quixotic Theater, Dallas, TX.
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).
journey to god, 2020
During the era of Western European imperialism, the King James Bible was used as a tool of justification for the genocide, inhumane capture, and terrorism against (ab)original people around the world. Displaced West Africans, held hostage in the Americas, employed the Christian religious system as a cover when practicing ancestral rituals and organizing escapes. These free people consistently crafted genius ways to resist the gaze of the fearful settler-colonialists who were intent on violently enforcing an illusion of race-based authority. This sophisticated communication system of American Africans is employed in this exhibition. These photos, captured in Kenya, Burkina Faso, and Ethiopia, are each assigned a bible verse that performs as a coded message that maps the journey to god. Exhibition: There Is Life In This Water/J Erik Jonson Central Library, Dallas, TX (2020).
matthew 7:14, 2019
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).
daughter of woman, 2019
Six months prior to the Daughter of Woman Exhibition and Event, J invoked the spirit of Josephine Baker and to recreate the George Hoyningen-Huene’s 1929 capture of the artist-activist, reinforcing the brave statements she made about freedom and female body autonomy. Studio: Greg Daniels Photography, Dallas, TX.
who you callin slave?, 2019
“Who You Callin Slave” evokes the spirit of resistance so often silenced in the narratives about African captives, and calls us to question the language that we use in relationship to our bloodlines. Writing/ Editing/ Production: J LeShaé. Camera: Krystal René. Exhibitions: Bang Bang Gun Amok/Abron Arts Center, New York, NY (2019); The Black Woman is God/Virtual (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).
divine design, 2019
Divine Design proposes that divinity is not an external phenomena, but an embodiment. This Rebirth Event was J’s official launch as an artist and served as the first proof of concept for Ms. J’s Classroom. Exhibition: Divine Design | Ms. J’s Classroom, Place at Tyler, Dallas, TX.
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. Writing/Editing/Camera/Production: J LeShaé. Exhibition: Bang Bang Gun Amok/Abron Arts Center, New York, NY (2019); F.R.E.E./Goldmark Cultural Center, Dallas, TX (2019).
Link to: credits
jleshae.com