AphroChic Magazine: Issue No. 11
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APHROCHIC<br />
a curated lifestyle magazine<br />
ISSUE NO. <strong>11</strong> \ SPRING 2023<br />
THE COLOR OF PANTÀ \ LOUISIANA SOUL \ 24 HOURS IN BOLOGNA<br />
APHROCHIC.COM
2023 has started off with a bang and <strong>AphroChic</strong> magazine is back, shining spotlights on<br />
all of the beautiful, fantastic, and amazing bits of culture that our community has to offer.<br />
Before we dive in, the editors of this magazine have to take a second to thank everyone<br />
for the love that’s been shown to our latest book, APHROCHIC: Celebrating the Legacy of<br />
the Black Family Home. The press has been great and the reviews are fantastic, but what<br />
moves us most has been seeing what this book means to you. The pictures we’ve seen and<br />
received from people happily posing with the book, styling their homes with it, or even<br />
spotting it at their favorite bookstores, along with your kind words, has been so uplifting<br />
that we really can’t thank you enough.<br />
But enough about us. We have a whole diaspora of talent to see and there’s no time to waste. For our cover story, we take<br />
you to Memphis, where designer David Quarles IV, is taking the local food scene all the way to Spain with his magical design of<br />
Chef Kelly English’s new Tapas bar, Pantà. Then, we are very excited to introduce our new fashion editor, Krystle DeSantos, as<br />
she explores the bright, energetic designs of KAHINDO, led by Ugandan designer, Kahindo Mateen. In addition to ultra-modern<br />
silhouettes and vibrant colors with culturally-grounded patterns, Kahindo offers a look at the future of the inner workings<br />
of the design industry with an eye towards sustainability and fair working practices. From there we head to Natchitoches in<br />
northern Louisiana for a taste of history. From the pages of her new book, Life is What You Bake It, author and winner of The<br />
Great American Baking Show’s fourth season, Vallery Lomas, introduces us to the world of Natchitoches meat pies. The flaky,<br />
hand-sized pastries are an authentic taste of Louisiana.<br />
Sated in body, we turn to the search for peace of mind, taking in the atmospheric tones of Baltimore musician John Tyler’s<br />
Music to Free Your Spirit, a reflection of the composer’s personal search for peace in response to the turmoil and crisis that<br />
have characterized the last few years. Then we cast an appreciative eye towards the abstract artistry of boucherouite rugs, the<br />
handwoven “rag rugs” of Morocco that are increasingly finding appreciation as works of modern art. Following that sense of<br />
wanderlust, we go from Morocco to Italy to spend 24 hours in Bologna, a city with thousands of years of history and architecture,<br />
paired with a food culture that is worth the trip.<br />
On the conceptual side, we further our look at the social and sociological dimensions of interior design with an analysis<br />
of our own living room, where womanist concepts were used to create the space we lovingly refer to as the Womb Room.<br />
We also take another step deeper into Diaspora, looking at how the lenses of Diaspora offered by various frameworks —<br />
beginning with the Triadic model of Joseph Harris — shape our experiences and expectations of each other.<br />
Finally, we profile artist, designer, and sculptor Jessica Jean-Baptiste. The Haitian-born artist’s latest works — the Jamal<br />
and Keisha busts — are a delicate and affectionate look at the faces of Black women and men as we rarely see them. We join<br />
Jessica in exploring her own path to artistry, its role in her ongoing discovery of herself and her culture, and the freedom she<br />
finds in sculpture.<br />
So sit back, relax, and enjoy.<br />
Jeanine Hays and Bryan Mason<br />
Founders, <strong>AphroChic</strong><br />
Instagram: @aphrochic<br />
editors’ letter<br />
Jeanine and Bryan with<br />
Ola Ronke Akinmowo, at<br />
her community space in<br />
Brooklyn, The Free Black<br />
Women's Library, for a book<br />
signing event celebrating<br />
the launch of <strong>AphroChic</strong>:<br />
Celebrating the Legacy of<br />
the Black Family Home.
SPRING 2023<br />
DEPARTMENTS<br />
Read This 10<br />
Watch List 12<br />
Coming Up 14<br />
The Black Family Home 16<br />
Mood 28<br />
FEATURES<br />
Fashion // KAHINDO 32<br />
Interior Design // The Color of Pantà 42<br />
Culture // Boucherouite Rugs 52<br />
Food // Louisiana Soul 60<br />
Entertaining // A Glamorous Springtime Brunch 64<br />
City Stories // 24 Hours in Bologna 74<br />
Wellness // The Clarion Call 88<br />
Reference // Africa, Dispersed People & The Lands of Dispersion 94<br />
PINPOINT<br />
Artists & Artisans 102<br />
Sounds 108<br />
Who Are You? <strong>11</strong>2
CONTRIBUTORS<br />
Cover Photo: David Quarles<br />
Photographer: Michael Butler<br />
Publishers/Editors: Jeanine Hays and Bryan Mason<br />
Creative Director: Cheminne Taylor-Smith<br />
Editorial/Product Contact:<br />
<strong>AphroChic</strong><br />
<strong>AphroChic</strong>.com<br />
magazine@aphrochic.com<br />
Sales Contact:<br />
Ruby Brown<br />
ruby@aphrochic.com<br />
Contributor:<br />
Krystle DeSantos<br />
issue eleven 9
READ THIS<br />
This issue of <strong>AphroChic</strong> magazine has a focus on Black art, from sculpture to fashion to design, so we've<br />
brought together three books that celebrate African American artists in every genre. Artist Whitfield<br />
Lovell, a MacArthur Foundation fellowship recipient and conceptual artist, has been inspired by vintage<br />
photographs of unidentified African Americans for his incredible drawings. The art featured in Passages<br />
is rendered on paper, salvaged boards, and found objects that offer deep symbolism. That sense of history<br />
and importance is also the focus of Black Power Music. Much of classic Motown, soul, and funk music from<br />
1965-1975 served as messages that spoke of the aspirations and frustrations of the Black Power Movement.<br />
This book takes an in-depth look at what was said, and not said, in Black protest music. Black Archives is<br />
an incredible collection of over 300 photos of Black life, from the mundane to the magical moments. The<br />
images showcase reunions, celebrations, candid family shots, church and school functions, holidays, and<br />
iconic moments of excitement, reflection, and pride.<br />
Black Power Music!<br />
by Reiland Rabaka<br />
Publisher: Routland. $38<br />
Whitfield Lovell: Passages<br />
Edited by Michele Wije<br />
Publisher: Rizzoli. $38<br />
Black Archives: A<br />
Photographic Celebration<br />
of Black Life<br />
by Renata Cherlise<br />
Publisher: TenSpeed<br />
Press. $32<br />
10 aphrochic
Celebrate Black homeownership and the<br />
amazing diversity of the Black experience<br />
with <strong>AphroChic</strong>’s newest book<br />
In this powerful, visually stunning book, Jeanine Hays and Bryan Mason explore<br />
the Black family home and its role as haven, heirloom, and cornerstone of Black<br />
culture and life. Through striking interiors, stories of family and community,<br />
and histories of the obstacles Black homeowners have faced for generations,<br />
<strong>AphroChic</strong> honors the journey, recognizes the struggle, and embraces the joy.<br />
AVAILABLE WHEREVER BOOKS ARE SOLD
WATCH LIST<br />
The short documentary film Baltimore Speaks: Black Communities, COVID-19 and the Cost of <strong>No</strong>t Doing Enough<br />
has made its premiere on baltimorespeaks.com. The documentary is the debut film from <strong>AphroChic</strong>, and it<br />
was written and directed by <strong>AphroChic</strong> founders Bryan Mason and Jeanine Hays.<br />
Funded by a grant from Black Public Media, the documentary focuses on the pandemic and its impact on the<br />
Black community in Baltimore, told from the viewpoint of Baltimore community members. One of the nation’s<br />
largest communities of African Americans, this Maryland city was deeply affected by the COVID-19 crisis.<br />
Mason and Hays felt compelled to tell this story, especially in light of the fact that Hays herself has Long COVID.<br />
“When we first were awarded the grant to tell the story of Baltimore’s Black community and COVID, we thought<br />
this would be a story about vaccine hesitancy,” Mason says. “Instead, we found a city that has a population that<br />
is over 60% Black, and within that community over 80% were already vaccinated. Through our interviews with<br />
Baltimore’s citizens, community leaders, and health officials, we found a much deeper story, told in their own<br />
words.” Mason and Hays produced this short documentary film to collect, acknowledge, and address Black<br />
community concerns around vaccination, highlighting the city's accomplishments, recognizing the difficult<br />
history of medical mistreatment of Black people, and to present the facts of vaccination.<br />
Efforts at widespread vaccination among Baltimore’s Black residents have been largely successful, owing in<br />
large part to a unique partnership between the Baltimore City Health Department, extensive medical and<br />
academic institutions, and members of the Black community. “We were excited to find that the city’s Black<br />
community was tackling vaccine hesitancy head-on through 1-to-1 community interactions, which helped<br />
propel vaccination rates,” Hays says. “What reluctance remains around vaccination is primarily due to historic<br />
mistrust of the medical community, which is itself rooted in a deep history of mistreatment and neglect.” To<br />
view the compelling documentary, go to baltimorespeaks.com.<br />
12 aphrochic
Well-traveled home goods, from the rug up.<br />
REVIVALRUGS.COM
COMING UP<br />
Events, exhibits, and happenings that celebrate and explore the African Diaspora.<br />
Afrofuturism: A History of Black Futures<br />
March 2023 | NMAAHC | Washington, DC<br />
A new exhibit at the Smithsonian's National<br />
Museum of African American History and<br />
Culture explores the past, present, and<br />
future of Afrofuturism in an exhibition that<br />
features the various people, unique themes,<br />
and radical artistry that have given voice to<br />
it. Featuring hundreds of objects and images<br />
as well as multimedia displays, Afrofuturism: A<br />
History of Black Futures explores the history of<br />
Afrofuturist expression and culture through<br />
literature, music, art, film, and fashion. For<br />
more information, go to nmaahc.si.edu.<br />
Harare 2080 by Simba Mafundikwa<br />
Gullah Festival<br />
May 26-28 | Beaufort, SC<br />
The Gullah are African Americans who live in the<br />
lowcountry region of Georgia, Florida, and South<br />
Carolina, who work to preserve their African cultural<br />
heritage, including a Creole language similar to Sierra<br />
Leone’s Krio. The Gullah Festival celebrates the<br />
Gullah history and culture, showcasing crafts such<br />
as basket and cast net weaving, and includes African<br />
dance and music, drum circles, booths, and more.<br />
Learn more at originalgullahfestival.org.<br />
Beale Street Music Festival<br />
May 5-7 | Memphis, Tenn.<br />
The 45th Beale Street Music Festival is set once again<br />
for Tom Lee Park and on the world-famous Beale Street<br />
in Memphis. Three main stages showcase iconic blues<br />
performers, bands, and singers over three days and<br />
nights. The event also includes the World Championship<br />
Barbecue Cooking Contest, combining two things<br />
that Memphis is known for around the globe. For more<br />
information, go to memphisinmay.org.<br />
14 aphrochic
BALTIMORE<br />
S P E A K S<br />
B L A C K<br />
C O M M U N I T I E S<br />
C O V I D - 1 9<br />
A N D T H E<br />
C O S T O F<br />
N O T D O I N G<br />
E N O U G H<br />
W R I T T E N A N D D I R E C T E D B Y<br />
B R Y A N M A S O N A N D J E A N I N E H A Y S<br />
V I S I T O U R W E B S I T E A T B A L T I M O R E S P E A K S . C O M
THE BLACK FAMILY HOME<br />
21st Century Womanist Design<br />
“A woman who loves other women, sexually and/or nonsexually. Appreciates and prefers women's culture,<br />
women's emotional flexibility ... and women's strength. ... Committed to survival and wholeness of entire<br />
people, male and female. <strong>No</strong>t a separatist, except periodically, for health ... Loves music. Loves dance. Loves<br />
the moon. Loves the Spirit ... Loves struggle. Loves the folk. Loves herself. Regardless. Womanist is to feminist<br />
as purple is to lavender.” — Alice Walker, Coming Apart, 1979<br />
A few months ago for Thanksgiving my in-laws came to visit and<br />
stayed with us at the AphroFarmhouse for our annual holiday celebration.<br />
It’s a favorite time for us. We get to spend time with family,<br />
reconnecting, watching movies together, eating as a family and reminiscing<br />
about old times. And it bring us joy to care for our parents<br />
during their visit, giving those who gave so much to us a time of<br />
comfort. One day during the visit, my father-in-law, who studied<br />
architecture in high school and went on to work as a draftsman in<br />
Philadelphia for over four decades, said, “I think I understand what’s<br />
going on in the living room. It’s a celebration of the Black woman.”<br />
And he was right. The living room is one of my favorite rooms in<br />
our house. I like to refer to it as the “womb room” – my 21st century,<br />
womanist living room; a grown-up version of a girl cave that’s full of<br />
inspirational imagery of the Black female form.<br />
As a student at Spelman College back in the late '90s, I remember<br />
first learning about womanism freshman year of college. It was Alice<br />
Walker who coined the term "womanist" in her short story, Coming<br />
Apart, written in 1979. As a major in political science with a minor in<br />
sociology, the term and its definition appealed to me: Womanism — a<br />
social theory based on the history and everyday experiences of Black<br />
women. According to womanist scholar Layli Maparyan, womanism<br />
seeks to "restore the balance between people and the environment/<br />
nature and reconcil[e] human life with the spiritual dimension."<br />
That desire for something spiritual, restorative, balanced, became<br />
The Black Family Home is an<br />
ongoing series focusing on the<br />
history and future of what home<br />
means for Black families.<br />
This series inspired the new book<br />
<strong>AphroChic</strong>: Celebrating the Legacy<br />
of the Black Family Home.<br />
Words by Jeanine Hays<br />
Photos by Patrick Cline and Jeanine Hays<br />
16 aphrochic
issue eleven 17
FURNITURE<br />
Pieces from Perigold: Teak Chunk Teak<br />
Slice Coffee Table, $2,099; Marley Solid<br />
Wood 3 Legs Coffee Table, $2,399;<br />
Leather Armchair, $820.<br />
18 aphrochic
issue eleven 19
THE BLACK FAMILY HOME<br />
the start of the design of the living room.<br />
Focused on the theory’s core concepts of<br />
equity, anti-racism, communalism, and<br />
embracing the lens of the Black woman, a<br />
story began to take shape in the space. One<br />
I was excited to tell.<br />
Every room that Bryan and I create<br />
together tells a story. Within four walls,<br />
a ceiling and a floor, space becomes our<br />
canvas to write a narrative with furniture,<br />
art and paint. For this space we began with<br />
furniture. Two large velvet sofas in dusty<br />
pink that were sourced from Perigold. The<br />
feminine shade immediately added a feeling<br />
of tranquility to the room. To add more<br />
feminine energy to the space, we found a<br />
beautiful Moroccan rug in Black and cream.<br />
Rugs in Morocco are mainly woven by<br />
women. Boucherouites, Beni Ourains, are<br />
impressionist works of art, created through<br />
the female lens. Made by a woman’s hand,<br />
each is one-of-a-kind, and the rug in this<br />
room not only added an artistic touch, but<br />
helped ground the space completely.<br />
Taking cues from the rug, much of the<br />
rest of the room is a play on a classic color<br />
palette of black and cream, keeping things<br />
light, airy and restful. Walls were painted<br />
in Kelly Wearstler’s Sand. The off-white<br />
shade became even more cozy and enveloping<br />
when we customized drapery from The<br />
Shade Store to match. Wanting fabric to be<br />
draped all along the walls was important.<br />
The custom curtains make you feel like you<br />
are literally wrapped in warmth, creating a<br />
nest-like environment.<br />
Wanting to connect more with nature<br />
in a farmhouse upstate, we brought in<br />
wood furniture that felt organic and raw.<br />
Our teak coffee table in a deep shade of<br />
honey became the perfect centerpiece in<br />
the room, with swirling woodgrains that<br />
reflect the trees outside. And a black side<br />
table added to the effect.<br />
We finished the room with lots and<br />
before<br />
20 aphrochic
issue eleven 21
ART & ACCESSORIES<br />
Pieces from Perigold: Jute Sisal Area Rug, $8,600;<br />
Pieces from Pottery Barn; Faux Potted Fiddle<br />
Leaf Fig Tree, $249; Reed Floating Shelves, $299;<br />
Bootyful Black Bum Vase from Latzio, $85; Sand<br />
by Farrow & Ball, $130; Sisters Framed Art Print<br />
by mmvci from Society6, $93.
THE BLACK FAMILY HOME<br />
lots of art. Collectors of a host of Black figurative<br />
works in painting and sculpture, we hung Sisters by<br />
Mafalda Vasconcelos over one of the sofas. And an<br />
old coat-closet in the room was transformed into a<br />
sculpture garden, featuring pieces by some of our<br />
favorite artists — Jessica Jean-Baptiste, Murjoni<br />
Merriweather — and some discovered at flea markets<br />
and on eBay treasure hunts. Even the lighting had a<br />
role to play: a sculptural table lamp accompanied by<br />
slender, statuesque standing lamps crowned by the<br />
rounded, whimsical shapes of the Nimbus chandelier<br />
– all contributed to the overall feel of the room.<br />
The final space is a retreat. Soft, warm colors,<br />
natural wood grains, wooly and woven textures<br />
and a mix of rounded and edged shapes all quietly<br />
evoke a feeling of femininity, while paintings, sculptures<br />
and busts openly celebrate the image of a Black<br />
woman. The result is comfort – the feeling of being<br />
held – and a statement of Black womanhood in all its<br />
softness and strength, beyond any gaze of judgment,<br />
appropriation or misrecognition. It’s the first room I<br />
like to enter when I come downstairs in the morning.<br />
It’s warm, snuggly and nurturing; the perfect room<br />
for reading a good book, watching movies, or just<br />
sitting and looking out onto the natural splendor<br />
that surrounds us. As with womanism, it’s a space<br />
dedicated to wholeness, restoration and unity, where<br />
the female and male come together in harmony, in<br />
mutual recognition and without competition – and<br />
ultimately a space that promotes love. AC<br />
before<br />
LIGHTING<br />
Pieces from Perigold: Redford 1-Light Armed Sconce,<br />
$360; Nimbus Glass Chandelier, $3,900; Isotope Floor<br />
Lamp, $1,017; Cora Alabaster White Sculpture Table<br />
Lamp from The Home Depot, $356.<br />
24 aphrochic
issue eleven 25
THE BLACK FAMILY HOME<br />
before<br />
“As with womanism, it’s a space<br />
dedicated to wholeness, restoration,<br />
and unity, where the female and male<br />
come together…and ultimately a space<br />
that promotes love”<br />
26 aphrochic
issue eleven 27
MOOD<br />
SCULPTED<br />
Civilizations have long used materials — stone, metal, wood<br />
— to sculpt images of the human form. Through figurative<br />
sculpture, we have an opportunity to take a deeper look at<br />
ourselves and the visible world around us. Today, modern<br />
sculptors like Morel Doucet, Murjoni Merriweather, and Jessica<br />
Jean-Baptiste are building upon ancient Yoruba traditions,<br />
and centuries-old woodcarving techniques that span<br />
the African continent, creating new reflections of the Black<br />
form through brass, ceramic, and plaster.<br />
Armani by Mustafa Ali<br />
Clayton<br />
Contact for price.<br />
wildingcran.com<br />
Blue Feather Mask by<br />
Allison Janae Hamilton<br />
Contact for price.<br />
Artsy.com<br />
The Keisha Bust by Jessica<br />
Jean-Baptiste exclusively<br />
for <strong>AphroChic</strong> $1,520<br />
perigold.com<br />
Azande Black Cast<br />
Aluminum Sculpture<br />
$149<br />
CB2.com<br />
Ebony in a Veil of Foliage<br />
by Morel Doucet<br />
Contact for price.<br />
Artsy.com<br />
28 aphrochic
Beaded Cowrie<br />
Shell Punu Mask<br />
$450<br />
globalattic.com<br />
The Jamal Bust by Jessica<br />
Jean-Baptiste exclusively<br />
for <strong>AphroChic</strong> $1,520<br />
perigold.com<br />
Olokun Head Vase in<br />
Black Ceramic<br />
$185<br />
olokunhome.com<br />
Fulani Princess with<br />
Neck Rings $190<br />
ebay.com<br />
issue eleven<br />
SeeMe by Murjoni<br />
Merriweather<br />
Contact for price.<br />
mvrjoni.com<br />
29
FEATURES<br />
KAHINDO | The Color of Pantà | Boucherouite Rugs | Louisiana Soul |<br />
A Glamorous Springtime Brunch | 24 Hours in Bologna | The Clarion<br />
Call | Africa, Dispersed People & The Lands of Dispersion
Fashion<br />
KAHINDO<br />
Modernity, Beauty, and<br />
African Kuba Prints<br />
With wooden crates stacked in the studio, models prepped for<br />
the photo shoot and a deep longing for warmer days, KAHINDO,<br />
a namesake, Black woman-owned clothing brand emerges from<br />
the cold, dreary winter in New York City with a refreshing new<br />
collection to usher in the Spring/Summer 23 season. The collection<br />
embodies the dynamic beauty of Africa with each style named<br />
after one of the 50 most beautiful places on the continent, including<br />
Ethiopia, Mozambique, Lesotho, and Morocco to name a very few.<br />
The prints are inspired by traditional Kuba cloth, which originated<br />
in the 17th century in the Kuba Kingdom of Central Africa, and<br />
the styles are presented through a modern lens; utilizing vibrant<br />
colorways in green, pink, and violet, while leveraging the elaborate<br />
and complex designs of Kuba cloth.<br />
Words by Krystle DeSantos<br />
Images furnished by KAHINDO<br />
32 aphrochic
The spirit of wanderlust,<br />
excitement, and playfulness are all<br />
present in this collection. And while<br />
KAHINDO represents luxury fashion,<br />
the brand is dedicated to creating social<br />
change through their SEW Sustainable<br />
Commitment; empowering women,<br />
closing the gender gap, paying fair<br />
living wages, and creating sustainable<br />
jobs in Africa for their global partners.<br />
Kahindo Mateene, the brilliant<br />
mind behind the brand says “...fashion<br />
is only as beautiful as the way I treat the<br />
female artisans and workers who help<br />
me create my line. That means focusing<br />
on sustainability and ethical work<br />
environments for my global partners,<br />
and using the KAHINDO brand as<br />
a vehicle to create equity and job<br />
opportunities for women. Together, we<br />
share the heart and soul of Africa with<br />
the rest of the world through fashion.”<br />
AC<br />
issue eleven 35
Fashion<br />
36 aphrochic
Fashion<br />
38 aphrochic
issue eleven 39
issue eleven 41
42 aphrochic
Interior Design<br />
The Color<br />
of Pantà<br />
David Quarles IV Designs A Memphis Restaurant<br />
Inspired by African and Spanish Culture<br />
For Memphis-based interior designer David<br />
Quarles IV, being tapped by a good friend to<br />
be the design mind behind his new restaurant,<br />
Pantà, with only a month to design and launch<br />
it, was a challenge he was excited to take on.<br />
Words by Bryan Mason<br />
Photos by Sarah Rossi<br />
issue eleven 43
Interior Design<br />
Just a few minutes into a catch up session in early 2021, the friend in question — noted<br />
Memphis chef Kelly English — put his cards on the table. A recent Spanish-themed pop-up<br />
at Iris, his Southern cuisine-focused flagship, had gone well — really well. So well in fact<br />
that English was moving Iris to a new location, making room for the pop-up to evolve into a<br />
full-time tapas bar, one he wanted David to design.<br />
For English, the transition was to be the fulfillment of a dream. For six months while<br />
he was in college, Kelly lived in Barcelona, a period he points to as the moment he realized<br />
that he wanted to be a chef. For David, the reaction was somewhat different. “All I could<br />
think was, ‘I’ve never designed a restaurant before,’ ” he recalls. “How would I even start the<br />
process? And a whole building?” Having specialized in room-by-room residential projects<br />
and even sworn off of commercial projects previously, it was a high hill to climb.<br />
By the end of the conversation though, English had his man. Doubts had been allayed<br />
and David was on board. Talk then turned to scheduling. As the pandemic was reaching new<br />
heights and every industry was just beginning to feel the impact that global illness has on<br />
supply chain logistics, schedule conflicts and previous engagements left the pair stranded<br />
with just four weeks, the month of October, to effect this transformation.<br />
To start the project, David was in need of inspiration. He decided to take a trip to<br />
Puerto Rico. “Pantà’s interiors were to be inspired by both Spain and Memphis, a predominantly<br />
African American city,” the designer says, “I wanted to visit an island rooted in both<br />
African and Spanish culture to see how their mixed influences translated to design and architecture.”<br />
Further inspiration was provided by English, his experiences in Spain and the mix of<br />
visual and culinary experiences he sought to draw from them. The unique Catalan culture<br />
of Barcelona is expressed in their buildings as well as their food, and English wanted to<br />
share his experience through Pantà. “He shared with me his favorite architect, Antoni<br />
Gaudí,” David remembers, “And [said that] he would like to see a bit of Gaudí reflected in<br />
the design.”<br />
Upon his return, David began assembling his team by reaching out to James Daniels —<br />
Jr. & III — the father-son team behind The Pros, a Black-owned Memphis contracting firm.<br />
From there the team expanded by several more, including David's sister and “second mom,”<br />
as well as “Mr. Sam,” one of Memphis’ few remaining traditional wallpaper hangers the city<br />
has to offer, who accepted the job just ahead of his planned retirement. Tasked with specific<br />
roles from repurposing furniture to creating murals and painting walls, David’s dream<br />
team made quick work of their assignments, and it was a good thing they did.<br />
The weeks leading up to the grand opening of the newly minted and freshly redesigned<br />
restaurant were a mixed bag of blessings, curses, near-misses, and heroic efforts. Wallpaper<br />
ordered from Australia — an expected delay — actually arrived early. A computer error<br />
filled dozens of paint cans with the wrong color. Masterful work was done as every piece of<br />
furniture from the former restaurant was reupholstered and repurposed. And David took a<br />
well-placed shot at muraling, while both Jameses applied colorful tiles to the space's pillars<br />
for a beautifully architectural look. Meanwhile, artist Francis Berry created the centerpiece<br />
for the restaurant’s private dining space — a swirling and intricately detailed painting of a<br />
dragon on the room’s ceiling.<br />
When opening day came the space was perfect. Gaudí’s love of shapes, textures and<br />
colors (a perfect match for David), are fully on display in a space that still feels right for<br />
44 aphrochic
Interior Design<br />
Memphis. The result is vibrant, fun, and instantly<br />
comfortable. “When you walk in the door, you<br />
know this is going to be a good night,” David<br />
smiles. “We have created an ‘experience’ that<br />
makes you feel transported to a different place.<br />
Even the bathrooms are Instagrammable.”<br />
The food lives up to the visual hype, with a<br />
menu split into two equal parts. The traditional<br />
Catalan menu offers such delicacies as the<br />
Gambas al Ajillo (olive oil cooked gulf shrimp<br />
served with shaved garlic, lemon, olives & red<br />
pepper) and the Broqueta de filet (grilled beef<br />
skewers with sautéed kale & red bell pepper<br />
puree). Meanwhile, the flip side of the menu,<br />
composed of Catalan dishes inspired by the<br />
Memphis vibe, boasts such instant hits as its<br />
Pebrots amb arroz caldoso (piquillo peppers<br />
stuffed with picada and saffron rice) and Albondigas<br />
Catalana (meatballs stewed in tomatoes<br />
and olives). The light fare is perfect for a neighborhood<br />
that thrives off of traffic from the nearby<br />
theater district, while drawing on the city’s<br />
legendary barbecue status to create new culinary<br />
conversations.<br />
Miracles don’t come easy, so when they<br />
do pop up, it’s a reason to celebrate. Sticking<br />
together through the bumps and bruises that<br />
come with every design project, David and his<br />
team pulled one off, and in record time. But<br />
even bigger than the professional accomplishment<br />
is the personal milestone this project represented<br />
for David in the ever-progressing work<br />
of accepting one’s own talent and believing what<br />
you see when it’s put to the test. “For me,” he says,<br />
“this was much more than a design project. This<br />
was a way for me to push my creative boundaries,<br />
prove to myself and my trajectory as a designer.<br />
[To prove] that I am capable! This was a ‘you<br />
belong here’ project.” AC<br />
46 aphrochic
issue eleven 49
Interior Design<br />
50 aphrochic
Bouch
erouite Rugs<br />
Rijeta Moroccan rug<br />
available at Revival<br />
$548
Culture<br />
Abstract Works of Self-Expression<br />
Moroccan rag rugs, better known as Boucherouites,<br />
are unique among the many rugs made by the<br />
women of Morocco’s Berber or Amazigh tribes.<br />
While rug weaving has been both an honored<br />
necessity and a high art among the Amazigh<br />
people since time immemorial, the creation of<br />
Boucherouite rugs is a fairly modern art by an<br />
ancient people.<br />
It was members of the Lamtuna Amazigh that<br />
founded Morocco in 1070 AD with the building of<br />
Marrakech. From there they established the vast<br />
Almoravid empire which not only encompasses<br />
large portions of the Maghreb, but essentially<br />
all of Andalusian Spain, stretching as far north as<br />
Zaragoza. Today, Amazigh tribes reside largely in<br />
the Atlas Mountains, away from Morocco’s major<br />
cities.<br />
Words by Bryan Mason<br />
54 aphrochic
Shweta Moroccan rug<br />
available at Revival<br />
$399<br />
issue eleven 55
Culture
Eniu Moroccan rug<br />
available at Revival<br />
$299
Culture<br />
In the 20th century, a variety of economic<br />
factors led to reduction in nomadism among some<br />
Amazigh tribes and the transition to agriculture<br />
from traditional herding practices. As a result, the<br />
growing scarcity of traditional materials made it<br />
harder and harder for Amazigh women to weave<br />
their usual rugs in their usual ways. Boucherouites<br />
emerged in the 1960s and '70s as a response to these<br />
unavoidable realities before growing into a new form<br />
of artistic expression.<br />
Unlike other Moroccan rugs, which are made<br />
from wool, Boucherouite rugs are made from<br />
scraps of whatever material is available, including<br />
synthetic fabrics from old clothes or even<br />
remnants of other rugs. The name Boucherouite<br />
comes from the Arabic “bu sherwit,” meaning<br />
“rag,” or “scrap of used clothing.” The word speaks<br />
to the unremarkable origins of each piece. What<br />
makes these upcycled artworks special, however,<br />
is the fantastic array of patterns and colors they<br />
can contain.<br />
Traditionally, Moroccan rugs are woven within<br />
very well-established motifs. Most are distinguishable<br />
by region. By contrast, the Boucherouite<br />
weaving style developed into a form of creative<br />
release for the women who were creating it. Instead<br />
of well-planned geometric patterns, Boucherouite<br />
rugs are “spontaneous” compositions intended<br />
to express the feelings of the weaver in a particular<br />
moment. As a result, the designs can range from<br />
tight geometric patterns to boundless abstract compositions<br />
with rapid color changes, blended shapes,<br />
and seemingly random angles.<br />
While the styles originated near the Moroccan<br />
cities of Boujad and Beni Mellal, it has since become<br />
widespread among the Amazigh in many places, and<br />
unlike traditional Moroccan rugs, Boucherouites are<br />
hard to connect to a specific location by the design<br />
and style alone.<br />
Originally, Amazigh rugs were woven for use<br />
in the home, and were not for sale. Because of that,<br />
for a time Boucherouite rugs were beautiful secrets<br />
seen only in Amazigh homes. It took time for people<br />
to see beyond the humble materials to recognize the<br />
artistry and craftsmanship it takes to weave such<br />
magical compositions out of rags or scraps.<br />
Today, Boucherouite rugs can be used to<br />
add color and pattern to an interior. Because<br />
they emerged in the '60s and '70s, the pieces have<br />
a mid-century modern feel and fit well among<br />
mid-century furnishings. They can also be displayed<br />
as playful pieces that help break up rooms that are<br />
overly traditional. Most are one-of-a-kind, so you<br />
can be sure that the Boucherouite you are bringing<br />
into your home will be unlike any other in the world.<br />
Our favorite sources for Boucherouite rugs:<br />
Revival<br />
You can search for rugs by country and style<br />
on Revival’s website. They have a collection of rugs<br />
from Morocco that include many one-of-a-kind<br />
Boucherouites. Each rug is professionally cleaned as<br />
well.<br />
Soukie Modern<br />
Founded by Taib Lotfi and Kenya Knight, the<br />
two have curated a collection of vintage and newly<br />
created Moroccan rugs. Taib hails from Morocco and<br />
is an expert in Moroccan textiles. Each rug that this<br />
design duo identifies is an absolute work of art for<br />
the home, and they have an assortment of colorful<br />
Boucherouites.<br />
Secret Berbère<br />
Experts in the world of Moroccan rugs,<br />
Secret Berbère ships rugs worldwide. Each rug is<br />
handmade in the Altas Mountains and no chemicals<br />
are used in the process — just vegetable dye. Their<br />
collection of Boucherouite rugs are beautiful and<br />
durable masterworks for the home. AC<br />
58 aphrochic
Eniu<br />
Moroccan<br />
rug<br />
Rijeta<br />
Moroccan<br />
rug<br />
Shweta<br />
Moroccan<br />
rug<br />
issue eleven 59
Food<br />
Louisiana Soul<br />
A Savory Meat Pie that Offers a Taste of Home<br />
Natchitoches is a small town in northern Louisiana that is<br />
home to one of the best kept secrets of Louisiana cuisine:<br />
Natchitoches meat pies. I spent summers in Natchitoches<br />
when I was in middle school taking courses like Latin<br />
and trigonometry. And as much fun as academic summer<br />
camp was (no sarcasm — it really was fun!), eating the<br />
Nachitoches meat pies at the end of our four-hour drive<br />
from Baton Rouge was the most memorable part.<br />
In an ode to my northern Louisianan brethren and<br />
sistren, here is my take on the savory Natchitoches<br />
meat pie. I use a crawfish étouffée recipe instead of the<br />
traditional meat filling (shrimp works well, too!) and<br />
bake them for gorgeous flaky layers. If you have leftover<br />
filling, save it and serve it over rice, Louisiana-style.<br />
Words by Vallery Lomas<br />
Photos copyright © 2021 by Linda Xiao<br />
60 aphrochic
Food<br />
Crawfish Hand Pies<br />
(makes 8 pies)<br />
INGREDIENTS<br />
4 tablespoons (55g) unsalted butter<br />
1 medium yellow or white onion, finely chopped<br />
2 celery stalks, thinly sliced<br />
½ green bell pepper, cored, seeded, and finely chopped<br />
2 garlic cloves, minced<br />
3 tablespoons (25g) all-purpose flour, plus more for shaping<br />
2 tablespoons tomato paste<br />
¾ cup (180ml) white wine<br />
¾ cup water<br />
1 to 2 tablespoons Louisiana hot sauce<br />
1 dried bay leaf<br />
2 teaspoons Creole seasoning<br />
½ teaspoon kosher salt<br />
½ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper<br />
1 pound crawfish tail meat or shrimp (if using shrimp,<br />
roughly chop)<br />
1 large egg<br />
1 disk of dough for Flaky Pie Crust (recipe next page)<br />
or store-bought pie dough<br />
1. In a large skillet, melt the butter over medium-high heat. Add the onion, celery, and bell<br />
pepper and cook, stirring occasionally, until softened, about 10 minutes. Add the garlic to the<br />
skillet and cook, stirring, until fragrant, an additional 1 minute.<br />
2. Sprinkle 3 tablespoons flour over the ingredients and stir. Add the tomato paste and stir until<br />
it is lightly toasted, about 2 minutes.<br />
3. Pour in the wine and water. Cook until the liquid is reduced by half, about 2 to 3 minutes.<br />
Add the hot sauce, bay leaf, Creole seasoning, salt, and pepper. Bring to a boil and cook until<br />
the mixture starts to thicken. Add the crawfish and reduce the heat to a simmer. Cook until the<br />
crawfish is cooked through and opaque, about 10 minutes. Remove from the heat and discard<br />
the bay leaf. Let cool completely before using for the filling.<br />
4. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper and whisk the egg in a small bowl.<br />
5. Roll the pie crust on a floured work surface to a rectangle ¼ inch thick. Work quickly because<br />
cold dough is easier to handle and preserves the flaky layers. Use a 3-inch round cutter to cut<br />
circles of dough as close to one another as possible. Gather the scraps, reroll, and cut out more<br />
circles. You should have about 16 rounds, which is enough for 8 hand pies.<br />
6. Place 8 rounds of dough on the baking sheet. Mound about 2 tablespoons of étouffée in the<br />
center of each of the rounds. Try to keep the étouffée in the center and leave about ½-inch<br />
border around the edge.<br />
7. Gently brush the whisked egg around the edge of the dough, which will act like glue to hold<br />
the 2 circles of dough together. Place the remaining 8 dough rounds on top, and press the tines<br />
of a fork around the edges to seal.<br />
8. Place the hand pies in the freezer for 15 minutes.<br />
9. Preheat the oven to 350°F and place a rack in the middle of the oven.<br />
10. Brush the pies all over with the remaining egg wash. Use a small, sharp knife to cut an X in<br />
the top of each pie so steam can escape during baking. Transfer the baking sheet with the pies<br />
to the oven and bake until golden all over, about 30 minutes.<br />
<strong>11</strong>. Remove from the oven and let cool slightly before serving warm.<br />
62 aphrochic
GET THE BOOK<br />
Reprinted with permission from Life is What You Bake<br />
It: Recipes, Stories & Inspiration to Bake Your Way To<br />
the Top by Vallery Lomas. Photographs copyright ©<br />
2021 by Linda Xiao. Published by Clarkson Potter, an<br />
imprint of Penguin Random House.<br />
Flaky Pie Crust (makes enough for 2 pie crusts or 1 double-crust pie)<br />
2½ cups (300g) all-purpose flour<br />
2 teaspoons granulated sugar<br />
1 teaspoon kosher salt<br />
1 cup (2 sticks/226g) cold unsalted butter, cut into 1-inch slices<br />
1 ⁄3 cup (80ml) ice cold water, or more as needed<br />
2 tablespoons (30ml) apple cider vinegar<br />
1. Add the flour, sugar, and salt to the bowl of a food processor, or a large bowl if<br />
using a pastry blender. Pulse or whisk until the mixture is combined.<br />
2. Add the butter and pulse until most of the butter is broken into pea-size pieces,<br />
about 15 pulses. There will be some larger pieces of butter, and that’s a good thing. If<br />
using a pastry blender, blend the butter until it’s pea size.<br />
3. Add the cold water and vinegar to a cup and pour the liquid over the crumbly<br />
flour-butter mixture. Pulse until it looks like tiny clumps (like space dots ice cream),<br />
and there are no large pockets of flour. If using a pastry blender, use a large rubber<br />
spatula for this step, folding until no large pockets of flour remain.<br />
4. Tip the mixture onto your work surface and use a light touch to gather the dough<br />
together and pat it down until it’s about 1 inch thick. Fold the dough in half, then<br />
pat it back down to a 1-inch block. Repeat twice, then pat and gather the dough into<br />
2 round disks, smoothing the sides so they aren’t dry and crumbly. Wrap the disks<br />
tightly in plastic and let them rest in the refrigerator for at least 30 minutes, and up<br />
to 3 days. The dough can be frozen for up to 1 month and defrosted in the refrigerator<br />
between 1 and 3 days.<br />
issue eleven 63
Entertaining<br />
A Glamorous<br />
Springtime Brunch<br />
In Shades of Smokey Black and Hot Fuchsia<br />
Flowers are in bloom, the days grow longer, and life comes<br />
back to the world as spring arrives. And while springtime<br />
gatherings are usually light and airy, this brunch is anything<br />
but, with a table display awash in deep, dark hues and pops<br />
of hot pink.<br />
Written, Designed, and Produced by Jeanine Hays and Bryan Mason<br />
Photos by Anna Moller<br />
Floral Design by Emily Howard<br />
issue eleven 65
Entertaining<br />
The sweet smells of magnolia, jasmine, and white grapefruit line<br />
the table in a mix of stunning purple and black flowers among flickering<br />
candlelight. Arrangements of an exotic mix of peonies, anemones,<br />
eucalyptus, and ranunculus stand out against a setting of smoky wine<br />
and crown glasses.<br />
For a touch of the season, sculptural elements add to the display.<br />
Alabaster grape clusters and porcelain black-and-white apple boxes<br />
are a nod to the season of renewal. And a range of brass trays and<br />
utensils from Japan are the final touches of glam.<br />
A makeshift bar offers a modern take on a spring mint julep. The<br />
“Brooklyn Stoop Sipper,” from Dick & Jane’s in the borough, is a julep-inspired<br />
concoction made with a mix of bourbon, mint, and honey,<br />
perfect for spring. And to add to the magical setting, desserts from<br />
Manhattan’s Mah-Ze-Dahr add a sweet touch.<br />
The table setting, a gorgeous mix of elements perfect for celebrating<br />
the coming of spring with friends and family. AC<br />
68 aphrochic
Entertaining<br />
70 aphrochic
Dick & Jane’s "Brooklyn Stoop Sipper"<br />
INGREDIENTS:<br />
Pinch Mint (5-7 mint leaves)<br />
3/4 oz Lemon juice<br />
1/2 oz honey syrup<br />
1/2 oz yellow Chartreuse<br />
2 oz Bourbon<br />
3 dash Angostura bitters<br />
INSTRUCTIONS:<br />
Add mint in small shake tin, add lemon, honey and yellow chartreuse, then<br />
muddle down on mint to bring out aromatics, (don't twist) add bourbon, add<br />
ice and hard shake, strain into rocks glass over ice, add bitters and garnish<br />
mint sprig.<br />
issue eleven 71
Travel
City Stories<br />
24 Hours in<br />
Bologna<br />
Some people travel for excitement, others to relax. We mostly travel for work.<br />
But when we’re not working, it’s history that catches our eye. Places where you<br />
can still see the work of hands long past in things created to fulfill a need, as<br />
well as to express an idea. So when a trip abroad to visit a trade show brought<br />
us to Bologna, a sprawling, modern Italian city built around the framework of<br />
a medieval town, with just one day to see the sights, you can believe we made<br />
the most of it.<br />
Words and Photos by Bryan Mason<br />
74 aphrochic
City Stories<br />
Getting to Know Bologna<br />
Bologna is a city with a long history, many lives and several<br />
nicknames. That history stretches back more than 2,000 years to the<br />
Etruscans and encompasses a line of occupants that was already long<br />
— including the Boii, Romans and Goths — before its inclusion in<br />
the Germanic kingdoms of first the Lombards and later the Frankish<br />
Carolingians under Charlemagne, who would become the first Holy<br />
Roman Emperor. The city experienced its share of internecine Italian<br />
strife and Papal intrigue on its way to achieving a nominal independence<br />
in <strong>11</strong>83 from then-emperor Frederick I. Though influences<br />
from the distant past continue to resonate today — some of the roads<br />
in Old Town are said to still follow routes laid down by the ancient<br />
Romans — the oldest parts of the city are from the so-called high<br />
medieval period (1000-1300 AD) when it flourished as a center of<br />
learning<br />
As an education center, Bologna boasts an impressive resume,<br />
having produced the influential medieval jurists Martinus Gosia,<br />
Jacobus de Boragine, Bulgarus, and Hugo de Porta Ravennate, collectively<br />
known as the Four Doctors of Bologna, along with early<br />
humanist poet Petrarch and writer Dante Alighieri known for his<br />
Divine Comedy. The University of Bologna, established some 935 years<br />
ago in 1088, is Europe’s oldest, continually-active university, leading<br />
the city to be dubbed La Dotta, or the Learned One. Today, the university’s<br />
student population is credited for maintaining the city’s<br />
lively and energetic atmosphere.<br />
Where to Stay<br />
As the largest city and capital of the Emilia-Romagna region of<br />
northern Italy, Bologna offers lots of places to stay. But if you’re interested<br />
in a walking tour, it’s a good idea to stay closer to the Old<br />
City located in the city’s center. Better yet, you can stay within the<br />
Old City’s walls. Don’t let the name and the Roman roads fool you.<br />
Bologna’s Old City is an amazing juxtaposition of the medieval past<br />
and the 21st century. Buildings built in the time of the Medicis, sitting<br />
across expansive plazas and situated along high stone walls, hold<br />
every modern business, service, and amenity from pharmacies and<br />
movie theaters to trendy shopping opportunities. Hotels like the<br />
Hotel Internazionale and Hotel I Portici, both located in the northern<br />
section of the Old City, between Porta Mascarella and Porta Galliera,<br />
offer quick access to some of Bologna’s most intriguing sights along<br />
with luxury accommodations.<br />
Where to Eat<br />
If you’re a lover of pasta, then of course the answer is just about<br />
anywhere — it’s Italy! And while sadly, the notion that Bologna is the<br />
ancestral home of the famous Bolognese sauce is a myth — historians<br />
actually bestow that honor on nearby Imola — the beloved ragù<br />
76 aphrochic
issue eleven 77
City Stories<br />
(meat-based sauce) is easy to find. Even so, you likely won’t find it<br />
paired with spaghetti. Locals prefer the thicker tagliatelle noodle<br />
because it holds more sauce, and after a few meals, there’s a good<br />
chance that you will, too. And even if pasta isn’t the center of your<br />
food universe, the Emilia-Romagna region has a vast, traditional food<br />
culture that can and will fulfill your every possible desire, a fact which<br />
has earned Bologna another moniker, La Grassa — the Fat One.<br />
For anyone who feels that taking meals has become an overly<br />
mechanical process, more about efficiency than enjoyment, Bologna<br />
is a great place to find some culinary perspective. A standard bearer<br />
of the slow-food philosophy of old, Bologna is a place where the social<br />
misstep of ordering coffee to go will quickly mark you as a tourist and<br />
invite a few quizzical looks. And in fact they may have a point. The<br />
city’s many restaurants offer several dishes with which Americans<br />
are familiar, made with time and care, without a focus on mass-production,<br />
long storage and quick preparation. The result is a discernible<br />
difference in quality.<br />
To experience this part of the culture first hand, just take a<br />
morning walk along the streets of Old City (sans coffee). Chances<br />
are you’ll find yourself stopping at the glass fronts of many shops<br />
and restaurants to watch the experts at work as they freshly stretch<br />
and cut noodles for the day, rolling and stuffing tortellinis by hand.<br />
Mortadella, the cured, spiced, and thinly sliced pork delicacy born<br />
in the city and known in its more industrial form as bologna, is<br />
another common delight. Bologna is also the hometown of prosciutto,<br />
making it the hero of charcuterie boards everywhere. And for<br />
those with the time and ambition to venture 40 minutes or so out of<br />
town, the nearby town of Modena boasts the world’s oldest continually<br />
operating makers of balsamic vinaigrette. Vastly different from<br />
what we find in the salad dressing aisle in most supermarkets, traditional<br />
balsamic vinaigrette in Modena is aged from years to decades<br />
in barrels that can be more than a century old. The thick, rich product<br />
of this process is used sparingly, only in drops, on a surprising variety<br />
of dishes that can range from ice cream to Parmigiano Reggiano, the<br />
iconic hard cheese that’s usually grated over pasta, but is even better<br />
in crumbles with a vinaigrette topping.<br />
What to See<br />
Bologna is less of a tourist attraction than some of Italy’s other<br />
remaining medieval towns, so time spent there can be enjoyed at a<br />
slower, more relaxing pace. Even so, it’s possible to see much of<br />
the medieval fortress town in one day. The twin plazas of Piazza del<br />
Nuttuno and Piazza Maggiore are perfect places to start the day, and<br />
return to throughout. These expansive plazas are perfect for people<br />
watching while taking in the beautifully aged hue of the buildings, for<br />
which the city has earned yet another nickname, La Rossa — the Red<br />
One. From there, lovers of architecture will enjoy wandering the Old<br />
City’s streets, taking in the Fontana di Nettuno (Fountain of Neptune),<br />
designed by architect Tommaso Laureti in 1563, with the massive<br />
78 aphrochic
City Stories<br />
statue of the Greek sea god, created by Giovanni<br />
da Bologna, considered the last great sculptor<br />
of the Italian Renaissance, which was added in<br />
1566. Similarly, the Palazzo d’Accursio, once the<br />
home of 12th century Roman jurist Accursius,<br />
and later a building for government and city administrators,<br />
boasts spectacular features, while<br />
inside, the Civic Art Collection includes works<br />
which, like the building, date back to the Middle<br />
Ages.<br />
An attraction for historians, art lovers,<br />
and the faithful alike, Old City is home to a<br />
number of medieval churches, many with historical<br />
or political significance. Basilica di San<br />
Petronio, one of the world’s largest cathedrals,<br />
dedicated to the city’s patron saint and site of<br />
the crowning of a Holy Roman Emperor, looms<br />
over Piazza Maggiore. Meanwhile the Basilica<br />
di San Francesco (St. Francis of Assisi) is built<br />
on land gifted to the Franciscan order in 1236<br />
by Pope Gregory IX. This section of the city also<br />
houses the Basilica di San Domenico, built on<br />
the site of the church of San Nicolò, where Saint<br />
Dominic, founder of the Dominican Order,<br />
preached from 1219 to 1221 and which hold his<br />
remains today.<br />
For those of us looking for Black history<br />
on our vacations, know that Italy’s history<br />
includes several brushes with the Diaspora,<br />
from Hannibal at the gates of Rome to Septimius<br />
Severus on its throne, the Renaissance-era ruler<br />
Alessandro de’ Medici and Domenico Mondelli,<br />
the world’s first Black pilot, along with many<br />
others. And while Bologna is a long way from<br />
Rome, in 2020 the city celebrated its first Black<br />
History Month, becoming only the second Italian<br />
city to do so. Meanwhile, a number of creatives<br />
are forging Black futures in the country, such as<br />
fashion designers Michelle Ngonmo and Stella<br />
Jean, and graffiti artist Rediet Longo.<br />
The art, history, architecture, and cuisine<br />
of Bologna, particularly its Old City, are an experience<br />
worth having. Whether in a day, a<br />
week, or more, the area offers plenty to enjoy<br />
whether your idea of fun is following in the<br />
steps of ancient history, enjoying the food or<br />
shopping or just sitting back with a coffee, a<br />
charcuterie board and some balsamic vinaigrette<br />
and watching it all pass by. AC<br />
80 aphrochic
City Stories<br />
82 aphrochic
issue eleven 83
City Stories<br />
84 aphrochic
issue eleven 85
City Stories<br />
86 aphrochic
THE AMUR<br />
SCONCE<br />
W A Y F A I R . C O M
Wellness<br />
The Clarion Call<br />
The People’s CDC Provides A Sobering<br />
Look at the COVID-19 Crisis<br />
Every week, The People’s CDC, a coalition of public health<br />
practitioners, scientists, healthcare workers, educators,<br />
and advocates working to reduce the harmful impacts of<br />
COVID-19, releases a weather report. The volunteer-run<br />
organization sifts through data that’s becoming harder<br />
and harder to find on the United States Centers for Disease<br />
Control and Prevention’s (CDC) website. In a clear report,<br />
they inform citizens about transmission levels, new variants,<br />
wastewater levels, and hospitalizations, providing us with a<br />
snapshot of how the virus is progressing.<br />
Interview by Bryan Mason<br />
Photos by August De Richelieu, Charlotte May, Laura James,<br />
Tima-Miroshnichenko, and Monstera<br />
88 aphrochic
issue eleven 89
Wellness<br />
90 aphrochic
Their posts on social media are sobering,<br />
as they tell us how many people have died of<br />
COVID nationally (a weather report the week<br />
of February 1 revealed that 15,000 Americans<br />
had already died of COVID in just a few weeks<br />
of the new year), through charts and graphs<br />
that they’ve collected from a variety of sources,<br />
including CDC data, studies from JAMA<br />
Network, and new research that’s revealed the<br />
effects of Long COVID on the body.<br />
The coalition, which is independent of<br />
partisan political and corporate interests, disseminates<br />
evidence-based updates, the latest<br />
scientific literature and policy recommendations,<br />
with a single goal in mind - to end the<br />
pandemic. And end it in a way that is equitable,<br />
building collective power and supporting communities.<br />
The People’s CDC has become an<br />
important resource for us as we work on<br />
advocacy around Long COVID, which impacts<br />
our lives daily. And they provided us with tools<br />
and resources for the <strong>AphroChic</strong> 2022 COVID-19<br />
Summit that was held at the end of 2022. We had<br />
the opportunity to speak with them further<br />
about the state of the COVID-19 crisis and what<br />
each of us can do to help bring an end to this<br />
global pandemic.<br />
AC: Can you give us a clear picture of where we<br />
are right now, as a nation, with COVID-19?<br />
PCDC: Looking at wastewater, which is our best<br />
measure of infections right now, community<br />
transmission is rising. The number of cases<br />
fluctuate from week to week, but they are high<br />
everywhere. Hospitalizations are rising almost<br />
everywhere as well, except the West Coast and<br />
some mountain states (for now). Hospitalizations<br />
are especially high among seniors/older<br />
adults. Everyone needs to obtain the bivalent<br />
booster, especially those who are 65 or older.<br />
AC: The explosion of infections following Delta<br />
and Omicron and the decreases that followed<br />
seem to have given us a skewed view of our<br />
progress. Overall, how do the rates of infections,<br />
hospitalizations, and deaths for 2022 compare<br />
to those same numbers from 2020? Are we<br />
making progress or losing ground?<br />
PCDC: It's interesting that there’s a perception<br />
of a decrease, probably because last winter<br />
was the worst surge of the entire pandemic.<br />
However, last summer, with the swarm of<br />
variants, we actually had more transmissions<br />
than the winters of 2020 or 2021 (particularly<br />
before December). We were consistently<br />
at a high level in 2022, since the government<br />
removed more protective layers, including mask<br />
mandates, PCR testing, and case reporting,<br />
and due to uncontrolled transmission, COVID<br />
continues to evolve more variants that become<br />
more transmissible. Cases are being significantly<br />
undercounted due to the lack of an infrastructure<br />
to report rapid testing results and the<br />
drop in urgency for testing. <strong>No</strong>w, relative to the<br />
amount of transmission, there are somewhat<br />
lower rates of hospitalizations, due in part to<br />
the bivalent booster and COVID treatments like<br />
Paxlovid. But we could be doing much, much<br />
better — and our healthcare system can’t take<br />
this sustained pressure.<br />
AC: There seem to be a number of nuances to interpreting<br />
official reports that can make them<br />
difficult to understand. If states or hospitals<br />
aren’t required to report COVID numbers, how<br />
accurate are the current statistics? If vaccination<br />
rates are based on the number of people<br />
who’ve received a single shot, when two of the<br />
three available vaccines require two shots, and<br />
there’s no mention of boosters, how vaccinated<br />
are we?<br />
PCDC: Without good case reporting, we are<br />
flying a little bit blind. Wastewater — which<br />
doesn’t depend on taking or reporting a test —<br />
is the next best set of data; if folks are sick, then<br />
COVID is in the sewers. But we need a lot more<br />
sites testing their wastewater. The CDC does<br />
measure vaccines and boosters — and boosters<br />
are the number we focus on, because one dose,<br />
especially if it’s been more than a few months,<br />
is not doing a lot. We also look at hospitalizations<br />
and deaths, which also give us an indication<br />
of how the country is dealing with COVID<br />
at the moment. <strong>No</strong>ne of these single measures<br />
tell us the whole answer, but collectively, they<br />
give us a sense of how we are doing. We do a<br />
lot of this work at the People’s CDC; take a look<br />
at our weekly Weather Reports that interpret<br />
the data and the latest research so the general<br />
public can understand what is going on. You can<br />
find this on our website, Instagram, Facebook,<br />
Mastodon, and Twitter; you can also subscribe<br />
to our Substack so you get the weekly updates<br />
automatically.<br />
AC: Why is it so difficult to obtain clear information?<br />
Who actually benefits from obfuscated<br />
data and skewed reporting when they only make<br />
it more difficult for us to recover from this crisis?<br />
PCDC: While it’s arguably hard to know the<br />
intention behind this obfuscation of data, it’s<br />
clear that the goal of the government — at all<br />
levels and regardless of the party in charge —<br />
is to encourage us to engage in activities that<br />
generate capital (such as traveling, shopping,<br />
dining indoors at restaurants, and going to<br />
work). Policymakers, businesses, and corporate<br />
media alike continue to decry the economic<br />
impact of COVID-cautious behaviors, because<br />
our concern for our lives and our bodies are inconsequential<br />
compared to the impact on their<br />
wallets.<br />
The CDC itself has released a report<br />
showing that half of adults believed transmission<br />
to be low to moderate, despite<br />
sustained high transmission — which goes<br />
to show the failure of the CDC to communicate<br />
about COVID accurately in the first place.<br />
It’s important to recognize this because when<br />
people perceive local transmission to be high,<br />
they are more likely to use preventive behaviors,<br />
such as avoiding indoor dining and maintaining<br />
masking in public spaces. The same CDC study<br />
underscored that if people knew transmission<br />
issue eleven 91
Wellness<br />
is high, they would be more careful. We should<br />
demand clear and responsible communications<br />
from the federal, state, and local governments.<br />
AC: As we continue to see higher rates of travel<br />
and indoor gathering, what can/should we do to<br />
keep ourselves protected?<br />
PCDC: At the individual level, it’s all about layers<br />
— testing, wearing high-filtration masks in<br />
indoor spaces (verified N95, KF94, or KN95 grade<br />
masks), avoiding large crowds, using good ventilation,<br />
employing air filtration, getting the<br />
booster (and a flu shot!), seeing people outdoors,<br />
and avoiding exposures before gatherings.<br />
However, at the systems level, there’s so<br />
much more that could be done. Our governments<br />
should send out monthly free tests to all<br />
US residents and N95 masks (KF94 for children).<br />
They should fund fast and accessible PCR clinics<br />
throughout the country, because PCR tests are<br />
the gold standard, meaning they have far less<br />
false negatives than rapid tests. Make reporting<br />
test results easy and have data be well-organized<br />
and accessible to the public. Set up more<br />
wastewater testing. Communicate clearly and<br />
frequently about the risks of the virus, especially<br />
Long COVID, to the public. Get vaccines to<br />
seniors and into communities. Everyone should<br />
have paid sick leave. All buildings and public<br />
spaces should have ventilation standards and air<br />
filtration, especially in high-traffic areas.<br />
AC: What are the specific policies that you feel<br />
need to be enacted at the state and federal level,<br />
and what are the specific steps we all can take<br />
to put pressure on policymakers to address our<br />
needs?<br />
PCDC: We have a duty to protect our most vulnerable<br />
neighbors and each other. This means<br />
that we have to make public spaces safe for<br />
people who are immunocompromised, disabled<br />
(including those with Long COVID), elderly, and<br />
more. We know that the pandemic has disproportionately<br />
affected poor people, Black, Latine,<br />
Indigenous, and people of color due to economic<br />
factors and structural racism. With increasing<br />
evidence that COVID impacts our immune<br />
systems for at least eight months — contributing<br />
to the rise in severe RSV and flu and overflowing<br />
pediatric hospitals — this means we have<br />
to do everything we can at all levels to reduce<br />
COVID transmission. COVID is not the flu — it<br />
is a multisystemic virus, the long-term effects<br />
of which are unpredictable, regardless of one’s<br />
age, health, or any other factors.<br />
To this end, we need to mobilize at all<br />
levels, both at the grassroots, at the levels of<br />
our families and households, and at the level of<br />
our government. Lots of people who continue<br />
to care about COVID and understand its risks<br />
have been feeling hopeless lately. But there is<br />
so much hope and efficacy in coming together<br />
to organize in real-life spaces. We don’t mean<br />
going into unsafe public unmasked spaces.<br />
We mean following the example of organizations<br />
like Mask Mandate New York, which has<br />
mobilized hundreds of New Yorkers around<br />
mask mandates in public transport, by asking<br />
them to call, email, and virtually testify at City<br />
Council and Transportation hearings. They<br />
succeeded in getting rid of NY’s terrible “You Do<br />
You” campaign and in having the MTA [NYC’s<br />
transit system] return signs recommending<br />
masking. And they’re still continuing their<br />
advocacy, with guides like the NYC Mask Guide,<br />
conveying valuable information about which<br />
public venues still enforce masking protocols.<br />
If you are a union member, find another<br />
person in your union and follow the example<br />
of Academic Workers at the University of California<br />
who gathered 500 signatures on an open<br />
letter and drafted an article around public<br />
health and safety (with demands for masking,<br />
PCR test access, etc.). Through the course of<br />
their strike, they have succeeded in increasing<br />
mask use on the picket line, and bringing back<br />
masks to organizing spaces. And they’re still<br />
going!<br />
Individuals can call and write to their<br />
policymakers across all levels of government<br />
asking for a return of mask mandates in indoor<br />
settings, including schools, and access to testing<br />
and masks. Individuals can ask their members<br />
of Congress to support continued funding for<br />
COVID health measures and ask that they do<br />
NOT let the public health emergency expire.<br />
In the coming year, we are advocating for<br />
a return to mask mandates in all indoor public<br />
settings, especially medical facilities and public<br />
transportation. All levels of government should<br />
provide access to free rapid at-home and PCR<br />
testing, and the federal government should mail<br />
out more than four tests along with high-quality<br />
masks. Policymakers should support unionized<br />
workers and start requiring or expand paid sick<br />
leave policies.<br />
AC: How can we connect with you and get<br />
involved today?<br />
PCDC: This work is difficult and tiring as an<br />
individual. You must find other like-minded<br />
people, who either live in the same community,<br />
or work in the same workplace. Advocate<br />
together around specific demands; providing<br />
moral support to one another in the process is<br />
essential. Specific steps can include writing to<br />
and speaking with your local, state, and federal<br />
political leaders, recruiting and educating<br />
business interest groups to support these<br />
policies, and enlisting the support of local<br />
community organizations. Make small wins,<br />
however tiny, and publicize them widely! You<br />
are not alone — we are not alone — in wanting<br />
a just and healthy response to the COVID-19<br />
crisis — and together we can and will create that<br />
response. Join or create local organizations to<br />
advocate for COVID safety, or join us by filling<br />
in our volunteer form and one of us will contact<br />
you shortly.<br />
92 aphrochic
COVID-19 Resources<br />
Baltimore Speaks<br />
This short film by <strong>AphroChic</strong> explores<br />
the impact of the virus on the Black community<br />
and the role that medical mistrust,<br />
created through a long history<br />
of mistreatment of Black people,<br />
played in creating hesitancy around<br />
the vaccine, as well as the heroic efforts<br />
of community members, medical<br />
institutions and the city’s health department<br />
to reach vaccination goals. Visit<br />
the website to watch the documentary<br />
short, spotlights of community<br />
members and view panel discussions<br />
from the <strong>AphroChic</strong> 2022 COVID-19 Summit.<br />
BaltimoreSpeaks.com<br />
The People’s CDC Safer In-Person<br />
Gatherings Guide<br />
The Safer In-person Gatherings Toolkit<br />
was developed by a coalition of public<br />
health experts and grassroots organizations<br />
to help educators, parents, and<br />
communities advocate for safer, equitable<br />
schools, and separate fact from fiction<br />
about COVID-19 protections. The toolkit is<br />
regularly updated as new science and information<br />
is available.<br />
SeeYouSafer.org<br />
Network for Long COVID Justice<br />
Network-builders, communicators and<br />
mobilizers who help link patient-led<br />
support groups and information sharing,<br />
groundbreaking research, grassroots<br />
community organizing and mobilization,<br />
communications, and policy analysis and<br />
advocacy for local, state, federal and international<br />
policies on the COVID-19/Long<br />
COVID pandemic.<br />
longcovidjustice.org<br />
issue eleven 93
Reference<br />
Africa, Dispersed People<br />
& The Lands of Dispersion<br />
Exploring the Three Sides of Joseph Harris’<br />
Triadic Model of Diaspora<br />
Human beings are unique among nature’s creatures, in that the stories<br />
we tell ourselves about reality often do more to shape our thoughts<br />
and actions than reality itself. Race and money, nation-states and our<br />
allegiance to them, all are stories that we tell and retell, shaping billions<br />
of lives not by what is, but by what we imagine. Even science is our<br />
ever-evolving and never-complete narrative of what the world around<br />
us is and how it works. This is not, categorically speaking, a bad thing.<br />
Our stories enable us to make sense out of the world around us, to orient<br />
ourselves in it so that we can decide where we want to go and how best<br />
to get there. If the use of tools is truly what separates the human animal<br />
from every other animal this world has to offer, then our stories are our<br />
most effective, most important tool.<br />
Words by Bryan Mason<br />
Photos by Svitlana Miku<br />
issue eleven 95
Reference<br />
The African Diaspora is a reality and<br />
a fact. Hundreds of years ago, millions of<br />
people were forcibly removed from the African<br />
continent and flung across oceans, forced to<br />
labor and suffer the inhumanity of those who<br />
purchased, traded and used them like objects<br />
or animals. In the centuries since, the descendants<br />
of the dispersed have formed new<br />
cultures that have themselves grown to impact<br />
and shape the world — including the continent<br />
of their initial dispersion — not by conquest but<br />
by the power of their content. These cultures<br />
are connected by their place of origin, their<br />
shared and similar histories, and their constant<br />
influence and reliance on one another.<br />
The African Diaspora is also a story and<br />
a tool. And as such, how we choose to envision<br />
it narratively will have the most crucial impact<br />
on how we perceive its reality and how effective<br />
a use we make of its utility. As with so many<br />
things, the shape of Diaspora is determined<br />
largely by how we choose to see it.<br />
In the previous segment of this series, we<br />
encountered several frameworks developed<br />
by scholars of different fields and times. Some<br />
have been specific to the African Diaspora,<br />
while others have sought to define diasporas<br />
as a whole. Some begin with the trans-Atlantic<br />
slave trade and some point to a distant<br />
moment in antiquity as the point where our<br />
Diaspora began. And while some upheld the<br />
idea of the “underlying African self” classifying<br />
all members of the Diaspora as essentially the<br />
same, others emphasized difference and the<br />
spaces between us. Yet despite these differences,<br />
each of them is a story of us, a lens, lending<br />
a specific shape to how we see our Diaspora,<br />
our communities and ourselves. And like any<br />
tool, these stories must be evaluated: How well<br />
do they work? Do they help or harm? And what<br />
direction do they point us in as we follow them<br />
forward? So, as not to be overwhelmed by the<br />
sheer multitude of current diaspora models,<br />
this series will confine itself to two which have<br />
been most impactful for the African Diaspora<br />
particularly, the Triadic model of Joseph<br />
Harris’ and Paul Gilroy’s Black Atlantic.<br />
The Triadic / Harris Model<br />
Introduced by Jospeh Harris, one of<br />
two scholars credited with first coining the<br />
phrase “African Diaspora,” the Triadic model<br />
is compact but robust. In concept it mirrors,<br />
if not directly derives from, Eric Williams’<br />
outline of the “Triangular Trade” in enslaved<br />
Africans, raw materials and finished products<br />
that ran between the three sites of Europe,<br />
Africa and the many colonies of the “New<br />
World.” Like Williams, Harris proposes an understanding<br />
of the global complex of historical<br />
and cultural interactions that make up the<br />
Diaspora as a relationship between just three<br />
significant points: The continent of Africa;<br />
those who were dispersed (and their descendants);<br />
and the lands to which they respectively<br />
went. Between these few poles, however,<br />
Harris encapsulates a myriad of relationships<br />
and historical points. Outlined in his work,<br />
The Dynamics of the Global African Diaspora,<br />
part of the larger work, The African Diaspora,<br />
edited by Alusine Jalloh and Stephen Maizlish,<br />
Harris immediately notes the tangible<br />
impact of diasporas as entities that, “develop<br />
and reinforce images and ideas about [the<br />
dispersed] and their original homelands, as<br />
well as [affecting] the economies, politics, and<br />
social dynamics of both the homeland and the<br />
host country or area.”<br />
In envisioning the history of our diaspora,<br />
Harris divides the timeline between what he<br />
terms the “historical diaspora,” made up of the<br />
voluntary as well as involuntary movements<br />
of Africans prior to the start of the trans-Atlantic<br />
slave trade and the “modern diaspora,”<br />
which is essentially everything that came after.<br />
Though he makes the distinction specifically to<br />
call out the extent to which African movement<br />
in antiquity was volitional, he nevertheless<br />
points to slave trades in both periods (specifically<br />
the trans-Saharan trade which predates<br />
the trans-Atlantic by more than a millennium)<br />
as the primary forces that, “made the African<br />
presence essentially global.”<br />
Though the characteristics by which<br />
Harris defines the African Diaspora have<br />
already been explored in this series (see <strong>Issue</strong><br />
9), there remains more to be said. There are two<br />
primary, binary dialectics at work in Harris’<br />
triad. The first, a global dialogue between what<br />
he terms “Africa,” and “its diaspora,” and the<br />
second, between “homeland” and “hostland,”<br />
played out in the communities and individual<br />
minds of the dispersed. <strong>No</strong>t unexpectedly<br />
the two exert strong influence upon one<br />
another, as for Harris, it is the “gradual transformation<br />
from African to African American<br />
or African European [that] helps to explain the<br />
complexity and dialectical contradictions in<br />
the relations between the African diaspora and<br />
the homeland, the phenomenon behind W.E.B.<br />
DuBois’s concept of ‘double consciousness.’”<br />
Whether this is a wholly accurate<br />
depiction of DuBois’ double consciousness<br />
or whether that concept constitutes a final<br />
word in the process of African American identity-building,<br />
Harris continues to explore<br />
these dialectical contradictions comparing<br />
the homeland/hostland dichotomy which he<br />
situates at the root of every diaspora consciousness<br />
to what he deems the more unified,<br />
arguably less affected self-image of the<br />
“African.” “When the colonial era ended,” he<br />
argues, “after less than a century in most cases,<br />
the colonial identity had not fully matured.<br />
Consequently, until the 1960s, most Africans<br />
in Africa retained a primary ethnic allegiance,<br />
while their descendants abroad constituted a<br />
‘stateless’ diaspora without a common country<br />
of origin, language, religion or culture.”<br />
The fact that, for Harris, the transition<br />
from African to African American —<br />
or any other iteration of Diaspora-identi-<br />
96 aphrochic
issue eleven 97
Reference<br />
ty — complicates the question of identity for members of<br />
the African Diaspora while failing to affect the arguably<br />
tenuous designations of home and host lands (see <strong>Issue</strong><br />
9), suggests that this concept of Diaspora is one based on<br />
the idea of the underlying African self. If there is, in fact, a<br />
true African self that underlies every Diaspora culture and<br />
every Diaspora member, then the characteristics of those<br />
cultures are simply artificial overlays creating, gaps or, as<br />
Edwards might suggest, “dècalage,” (see <strong>Issue</strong> 6) between<br />
new, derivative cultures and the original. Further, Africa<br />
would always remain, inescapably the homeland, no matter<br />
how many generations it took to effect the transformation,<br />
as he puts it, or how ingrained or successful the descendants<br />
of the dispersed eventually became in their respective<br />
hostlands.<br />
The View From Here<br />
The shape of Diaspora through the Triadic lens offers its<br />
share of pros and cons. To begin with, stylistically, one has to<br />
admire the efficiency of Harris’ design. He manages to accomplish<br />
a lot with only three points of reference, encompassing<br />
thousands of years of history, two distinct diasporic eras and<br />
many competing identities, perspectives and conversations.<br />
However there are also a few of what might best be termed,<br />
“anachronisms,” engrained within the concept that may lead<br />
us to question whether it is in fact the best depiction of the<br />
Diaspora as we currently experience it.<br />
The question of homeland/hostland dichotomies is one<br />
with which we are already familiar, having argued previously<br />
for the impossibility of keeping these as fixed notions — at<br />
least to the extent demanded here — over several generations<br />
of people born in diaspora. We have similarly explored the limitations<br />
of the idea of an underlying African self, as pointed<br />
out in the work of Paul Gilroy and Stuart Hall (see <strong>Issue</strong>s 5 & 6).<br />
More pressing however, are the ways in which a Triadic model<br />
fails to tell the whole story of the Diaspora by giving no space<br />
to the many intricate relationships that exist between diaspora<br />
cultures themselves.<br />
The experience of the African Diaspora does not consist<br />
solely of the relationship of dispersed Africans to Africa, and it<br />
never has. Equally if not more impactful has always been the relationship<br />
between the former sites of colonial enslavement. We<br />
have seen the power of these relationships as they have shaped<br />
our whole retelling of the history of Pan-Africanism. They<br />
inspired Henry Sylvester Williams to hold the first conference,<br />
filled Alain Locke’s New Negro, with the thoughts and creativity<br />
of Caribbean authors alongside their African American counterparts,<br />
and turned Harlem’s “Renaissance” into the Negritude<br />
of the Francophone Diaspora. To mistake the uniqueness<br />
of Diaspora cultures for simple deviations from a supposed<br />
African original is to miss the beauty of what these cultures have<br />
become and what they have and continue to mean and contribute<br />
to one another. It’s also part of a larger question and potentially<br />
indicative of an even larger problem. AC
PINPOINT<br />
Artists & Artisans | Sounds | Who Are You
ARTISTS & ARTISANS<br />
Jessica Jean-Baptiste:<br />
The Question is in the Answer<br />
What is art for? Where does it come from and where<br />
does it go? What do we need it for and what does it<br />
actually do? For sculptor Jessica Jean-Baptiste, art is<br />
the answer to an unasked question, the incomplete<br />
solution to a problem she’s never quite fully articulated.<br />
And that’s okay, because in the tension and space<br />
between question and answer, her hands shape plaster<br />
and clay, “making something out of nothing,” and<br />
giving us answers that we didn’t know we’d asked for.<br />
Reflecting on her creative path to see when it was that<br />
she started asking these questions — or when she<br />
stopped — takes her back to her Haiti, where she was<br />
born. “It definitely started there,” she remembers. “I<br />
grew up playing with my sister, with anything that<br />
we found, just going outside and finding leaves to play<br />
with — creating stuff out of nothing. That's where that<br />
sort of creativity stems from in me. And once I came<br />
here, it just kind of continued in small ways.”<br />
Words by Bryan Mason<br />
Photos furnished by Jessica Jean-Baptiste<br />
102 aphrochic
ARTISTS & ARTISANS<br />
104 aphrochic
“Here,” is New York, where the Portau-Prince<br />
native moved when she was just<br />
9 years old, following the loss of her father.<br />
Arriving in winter, the cold, the chaos<br />
of the trip and the sudden need to learn<br />
English were all obstacles to overcome,<br />
but they weren’t her biggest problem.<br />
“My first meal wasn't very good at all,” she<br />
laughs, recalling a dish of rice and green<br />
beans. “And I remember the beans were<br />
kind of like sweet, and I'm like, “Beans are<br />
not supposed to taste like this.” Her first<br />
encounter with New York’s Chinese food<br />
didn’t go much better. The ribs were even<br />
sweeter than the beans. “For Haitians, meat<br />
is not supposed to be sweet,” she remarks.<br />
“Ever. So food wasn't really good for me<br />
until my mom started cooking.”<br />
Though the cuisine was challenging,<br />
much of the rest of life flowed more<br />
naturally. “I picked up English really<br />
quickly,” she shrugs. “I guess when you're<br />
nine you just kind of pick up things fast,”<br />
though in the process she lost her hold on<br />
French. A model student, Jessica found she<br />
had the same quick facility with a number<br />
of other subjects, especially art. “My<br />
teachers loved me,” she says, “And I was<br />
really passionate about all the art classes<br />
that I was taking.” When she wasn’t in art<br />
class, she was still creating, doodling in<br />
books or sketching tattoos for friends at<br />
lunch. Art was calling her, but she wasn’t<br />
sure she wanted to answer.<br />
“I think I may have been, happier when<br />
I was just doing art, and not thinking about<br />
what an artist is,” she muses. “I think you're<br />
just more free that way, freer to just kind of<br />
explore and play. When the moment comes<br />
where you start thinking, ‘Oh, man, like,<br />
I'm an artist now, with like, the capital A,<br />
I think it can create a lot of stress.” Also at<br />
work were familiar tropes about what was<br />
and wasn’t possible for a girl from Haiti —<br />
warnings that came from within as well as<br />
without.<br />
“Coming from my background it<br />
wasn't something that I could imagine<br />
myself doing,” the artist confesses. “So for<br />
a long time, while I realized that I was really<br />
passionate about this, I was getting to that<br />
age where you had to pick a career and I<br />
was like, ‘I can't choose this. I can't be the<br />
artist with the capital A.’” Yet after a brief<br />
detour into culinary arts, Jessica relented<br />
to herself, applying and gaining acceptance<br />
to the Parsons School of Design at The New<br />
School.<br />
At Parson’s, the fascination with<br />
painting and drawing that captivated<br />
Jessica in high school, gave way to a new<br />
passion: sculpting. “I love working with my<br />
hands,” she explains. “I used to draw the<br />
figure and my next interest was sculpting<br />
the figure. Working in 3D was just the next<br />
step for me.” But learning the techniques of<br />
a sculptor was only the first step. A larger<br />
question was forming, waiting to be asked.<br />
As she immersed herself in the techniques<br />
of the artist, Jessica naturally<br />
became equally steeped in the aesthetic<br />
of her school, and the Eurocentric subtext<br />
that accompanied it. It was a process that<br />
she can only see clearly in retrospect. “I<br />
didn't even think about it,” she laments.<br />
“I just accepted it. Everything was looked<br />
at and judged and critiqued through the<br />
lens of European design and art.” As her<br />
education became her aesthetic, it colored<br />
not only in what she created, but how she<br />
saw the creations of others. “That's the lens<br />
that I began to see through, to judge good<br />
work. I would find myself thinking, “Oh,<br />
this isn't as sophisticated,’ when something<br />
wasn’t in the Eurocentric type of design.”<br />
Looking back now, she realizes how<br />
complete the process had been, and how<br />
early it started. “Right away, I guess I was<br />
beginning to be brainwashed. And I was<br />
just the good student who saw, listened, interpreted<br />
a lot of those ideas, and began to<br />
embed them in my work as my own.”<br />
issue eleven 105
ARTISTS & ARTISANS<br />
While learning to define herself as an artist with a capital A, Jessica’s education had become<br />
a process of internalization without analysis. And though school was the site of her inculcation, it<br />
would also provide inspiration for her to begin questioning again. “I was a senior, and I had to pick<br />
a capstone project,” she says. “I was lucky in that my my teacher, right away, wanted to know about<br />
my background, and he nudged me towards a project that required more deep-dive research into my<br />
own culture.”<br />
The realization that she wasn’t making space for who she was in her work revealed to Jessica just<br />
how much she’d needed to. After that, there was no stopping her. “I just dove right in,” she says. “I<br />
took a trip to Haiti, I visited all of these different artisans who were working with metals and ceramics<br />
and doing just incredible work.”<br />
Making the turn towards her own culture in her work and her expression has helped Jessica to<br />
unify the disconnected strands of herself, connecting the artist she is today with the little girl in Haiti<br />
who ran and played with her sister, creating worlds out of leaves. “I really feel like I would not be who<br />
I am today if it wasn't for Haiti,” she says, “if I did not have those experiences, because they're just so<br />
vivid and such a part of who I am. Haiti is in everything that I do, but I can't pinpoint where it is. Every<br />
little thing that I touch, and every little thing that I create; in my being, in everything that I am and<br />
how I create, and how I think, I just know that it's there.” The process of reconnecting was revelatory<br />
and healing, two elements Jessica strives to achieve through her work today and in her evolving<br />
approach to sculpting.<br />
“I think in a sculpture, the gesture is super important,” she begins, describing the goals and approaches<br />
that govern her work. “That sort of essence of what you're trying to get at or the movement<br />
that you're trying to capture. That's first and foremost the most important thing, so that's that's what<br />
I try to do in my work.” That sense of essence or intonation that she works to evoke is a tricky thing.<br />
Played too abstractly it can become unrecognizable, but in a sculpture that’s too realistic, it can get<br />
lost in the details, which leaves Jessica in a place of constant editing. “At the moment my work is<br />
probably closer to abstract,” she reflects. “It's definitely not hyper realistic, because I did not have this<br />
specific person in front of me that I wanted. I was sculpting someone that I created from my mind.”<br />
The most recent results of Jessica’s imaginings are Jamal and Keisha, a pair of plaster busts that<br />
she’s creating in limited editions, as the inaugural artist for <strong>AphroChic</strong>’s art shop on Wayfair and<br />
Perigold. Less representations of specific people, these highly evocative pieces are more amalgams<br />
of the parts of ourselves the artist feels that we too often overlook. “Keisha has the most peaceful expression<br />
on her face,” she smiles. "She’s all calm, cool, collected Black feminine power.” And in Jamal<br />
she sees that, “he’s this strong Black male. But he's also soft and caring and insightful and smart.<br />
He has all those amazing characteristics that so many Black men have, and we just don't talk about<br />
them that often. My dad was like that.” In showing us the parts of ourselves that we don’t typically see<br />
reflected, Jessica hopes not only to fill in the gaps of how we see ourselves, but give us the full range of<br />
options as we consider who we want to be. “I need to be a little bit more like Keisha myself sometimes<br />
when I'm stressed out,” she laughs.<br />
A Black man without conflict, a Black woman at peace. Simple images, yet revolutionary in their<br />
rejection of the story of us as it is commonly told to us — sometimes by ourselves. The challenges of<br />
an internalized, Eurocentric view that Jessica has worked to overcome in her evolution as an artist<br />
are not unique to art. And the work of untangling it from our perspectives is not hers alone. “At this<br />
phase, I think that if I'm going to create any art, I want it to stem from that place of undoing a little bit,<br />
a little bit at a time, and just really embracing, embracing and learning and opening myself up even<br />
more, because I do think so much more will come out of my work.” AC<br />
106 aphrochic
issue eleven 107
SOUNDS<br />
Music to Free Your Spirit: John Tyler Reimagines<br />
the Music of the Moment<br />
Making the music of the moment is not just about topping the charts<br />
or changing the game. It’s not becoming a trend or a meme or a mood.<br />
It’s music that goes beyond the typical to place a lens on society, shine<br />
a light on its tragedies and its ills and inspire us all to march further,<br />
do better or just hang on.<br />
As Black people, we’ve seen a lot of moments, and our<br />
music has always been there for us. Whether it was a hum<br />
in the fields, jazz on Saturday, gospel on Sunday, or the<br />
blues every day of the week. Whether we were being told to<br />
fight the power, asked what’s going on, or commanded to say<br />
it loud, our music has been there to give us what we need<br />
to make it to the other side. And while we are still waiting<br />
patiently, eagerly, even desperately for our chart toppers<br />
and game changers to take a serious run at COVID, climate<br />
change, or any of the million other “moments” that are<br />
shaping our lives and weighing us down right now, John<br />
Tyler has another idea.<br />
At 22 years old, the Baltimore-born and -based<br />
artist has an impressive array of accomplishments,<br />
most recently playing on stage with Robert Glasper and<br />
Dave Chapelle. As a solo creator, he has several albums<br />
to his credit, as well as having produced more than 100<br />
DMV-area artists. He is also the founder of the Love Groove<br />
Festival, an annual showcase for Baltimore’s emerging<br />
musical and visual artists, combining performances, educational<br />
workshops and networking opportunities — that<br />
Words by Bryan Mason<br />
Photos furnished by John Tyler<br />
108 aphrochic
SOUNDS<br />
he started while in high school.<br />
In his new album, Music to Free Your<br />
Spirit, a 5-track expansion of the single,<br />
Free Spirit, John found himself, like all of us<br />
in the 2020s, at the bottom of a seemingly<br />
endless pile of worries, stresses, and<br />
doubts. Like so many of us, he responded<br />
by holding on tighter, putting as much<br />
effort into making believe that everything<br />
was fine as he was into trying to dig his way<br />
out. And like it does for so many of us, it<br />
worked — until it didn’t.<br />
“One night I had a sudden panic attack<br />
in the middle of my sleep because I had so<br />
much overwhelming my brain,” the artist<br />
remembers. “It was so bad that I thought I<br />
was going to die.” The next day began with<br />
a revolutionary act: he decided to rest. On<br />
the first day of his imposed vacation, John<br />
began to make music. By its end, he had<br />
produced the nearly 12-minute long Free<br />
Spirit, in its entirety. “All of the production<br />
and my personal vocals were recorded in<br />
one day,” he says. “It felt amazing because,<br />
prior to the creation of the project, I hadn't<br />
made music in months.” A few days later he<br />
created Music To Free Your Spirit, which he<br />
calls, “an instrumental project made for relaxation,<br />
meditation, contemplation, and<br />
reflection.”<br />
Describing his music as a fusion of<br />
jazz, R&B, rock, and indie influences,<br />
elements of each can be heard in different<br />
measure as the album moves from one<br />
track to the next. The music is atmospheric,<br />
meant to fill the background rather than<br />
command attention, designed to facilitate<br />
moments of peace rather than stir the<br />
emotions. In his approach to the music of<br />
the moment, John Tyler digs through his<br />
stress and his pain to find the calm at the<br />
eye of the storm while leaving a path for us<br />
to follow.<br />
The 21st century still needs its Billie<br />
Holidays and Nina Simones, artists willing<br />
to risk themselves to use their art to<br />
confront society with the truth as we see it<br />
while giving us the validation of having our<br />
most pressing problems, questions, and<br />
experiences reflected in song. But in these<br />
days of upheaval, where self-care itself is<br />
increasingly becoming an act of defiance<br />
(and maybe it always was), a moment’s<br />
peace can mean just as much.<br />
Look out for John’s upcoming album,<br />
Men Do Cry, coming out later in 2023. AC<br />
<strong>11</strong>0 aphrochic
issue eleven <strong>11</strong>1
WHO ARE YOU<br />
Name: Dr. Kerry A. Foster Sr.<br />
Based In: Philadelphia, PA<br />
Occupation: Educator / Mentor / Therapist /<br />
Comedian / Minister / Martial Arts Instructor<br />
Currently: I’ve returned to teaching — my<br />
purpose in life. I teach mathematics in a<br />
private school that I helped build 30 years ago.<br />
Simultaneously, I am back in the dojo teaching<br />
martial arts. I teach from the perspective<br />
that math, like martial arts, is a language of<br />
self-expression, a journey of introspection<br />
and environmental awareness tied to<br />
learning, reading, and knowing before doing.<br />
I’m entering a graduate program with the<br />
hope of earning my Ph.D in mathematics by<br />
age 70. This is exciting because though I have<br />
earned BA, MTS, MDiv, and DMin degrees, I<br />
was once a high school dropout.<br />
Black Culture Is: A collective sharing of<br />
values, norms, and beliefs — the universal<br />
involvement, acknowledgement, acceptance,<br />
and affirmation of all human life. It includes<br />
everyone’s participation and gifts to<br />
humanity: music fashion, arts and sciences,<br />
along with athletics, education, poetry,<br />
politics, religion, and more. It comes with<br />
the high honor of the responsibility to teach,<br />
to protect, and to pursue a better future. It<br />
holds us accountable to welcome and embrace<br />
life and the living — accepting that everyone<br />
was born with something the world needs, to<br />
affirm that everyone needs to be cared for, to<br />
grow and excel authentically.<br />
<strong>11</strong>2 aphrochic
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issue eleven <strong>11</strong>5