Interview conducted by Zoe Bisco on October 16, 2020.

Zoe: Why do you identify as an activist?

Safiyah: That's a good question. Do I? I don't know if I do. Recently I've seen people attach the word goal to the work of activism. And I don't know if all of my work has a goal. I guess, yeah, they do.

Okay so let's talk about obsidian podcast, which I'm a co creator with a friend, Adetola Abdulkadir. I'll show you our website. (https://www.obsidianpodcast.com/) We wanted to create a space for black narratives of the afrofuturist genre. So, related to sci-fi, technology, and imagination. And have a space where we could talk about some of the issues that are going on lately. So, environmental issues, surveillance, AI, all of that. And so with that, we want to first show that Black people can be in the stories and that we have a hand in the tech and show how we're affected by these things.

And then also, like I've been thinking a lot about this artist, Alisha Wormsley's Billboard (https://alishabwormsley.com/there-are-black-people-in-the-future). Let me see if I can show that to you. So, the project is called, “There are Black People in the Future.” And it's a really simple statement. And she's done many iterations of it but for some reason, of course, people have found it to be controversial, like the billboard was taken down by the building owner and so we want to share this idea too that there are Black people in the future. And just create that legacy.

That is a good segue though. Being a teacher is sharing information that is not in the mainstream, I guess, of public school education so I do try to make sure my students know lots of Black American history. So I would identify as an activist for that reason.

Zoe: What is your favorite medium?

Safiyah: I call myself an interdisciplinary artist because I've never stuck with one medium. but my favorite right now would be digital storytelling. So I'm using tech, which is funny because I left Towson University not wanting to do screen based work but, I am. So the podcast has been a lot of a big source of joy and I consider that digital storytelling. And then one of the projects I'm working on right now for my thesis, my MFA thesis uses I'm using AR, hopefully it works out. And so I'm excited for that project too.

Zoe: What is your creative process?

Safiyah: It’s definitely very research based. I really enjoy reading on the topics that I'm interested in. And so, as you found my thesis topic is Mundane Afrofuturism and Black Islam, and I never really embraced Islamic narratives or art making in undergrad, just, I don't know why maybe I wanted to like blend in or something, but it's a big interest, and part of my identity so it has been making its way into my artwork. I love to sketch. So definitely research, sketching, and then whatever the making is because the making takes on different forms.

Zoe: So would you say that Mundane Afrofuturism is something that inspires you?

Safiyah: It definitely does inspire me. So Mundane Afrofuturism takes a look at the now and what people are doing currently to promote and uplift, and really encourage Black people working for the betterment of their lives, whether it's in technology or other ways like community facilitation or providing resources, mutual aid. It's inspiring, also because it steps away from what the mainstream of what Afrofuturism looks like right now and reimagines what it could look like.

Zoe: Is there anyone who has inspired you in particular?

Safiyah: So, the woman who kind of coined this phrase, Mundane Afrofuturism. Her name is Martine Syms. W.E.B. Du Bois is someone who has come to the forefront of my Black intellect and creative doer/activist/sociologist. And it was kind of upsetting when I realized all that he's done, because I hadn't learned much about him before like two years ago maybe. I was like what the heck? Like this man has done everything there is to do.

Zoe: Why have you chosen to research the role of mundane Afrofuturism in Black Islam?

Safiyah: Well, It's been boiling up for a while but I finally made this decision because I learned of a enslaved Muslim in, who was brought to this country. His name ass Yarrow Mamout, and he was held in Maryland, and then Washington DC. And it's such a local history. I was like, why have I never heard of this man before? He has two portraits. I'm going to show you. His image. He has two portraits, one by Charles Wilson Peele who's a super prominent American painter, and then another from James Simpson, maybe. He earned his freedom through working, and he then owned his own land, had bank stocks, and was a financier, so loaned other people money and stuff. I was like oh my god this man lived quite a life!

There's such a large Muslim community in the DMV, and I was just like, why have I never heard of him before? And so I was, I learned about him during my internship at the Smithsonian, researching Afrofuturism. And I was trying to build a relationship between this Muslim man's story of enslavement and then freedom and Afrofuturism. And so, my thesis came out of trying to. make sense of this relationship and see what kind of connections I could build between these two stories. And by these two stories I mean like Afrofuturism as a popular genre and this history.

Zoe: Do you think a lot of people study this?

Safiyah: There is a very big community. I don't know if I can say very big comparatively to like other studies, but there are quite a lot of people who are very learned and Afrofuturism there are some scholars who are popular and it's a very tight knit community, I would say. Many of the people who study it know each other, and the generation above mine. It is pretty well studied and there is going to be. This is public knowledge, not just because I interned there but there's going to be an exhibition on Afrofuturism at the National Museum of African American History and Culture, the newest Smithsonian. So, yeah, it's definitely got a lot of attention, but after that exhibit, it'll also be in the mainstream again.

Zoe: What is your favorite piece and why?

Safiyah: My favorite piece right now is in progress, and it's inspired by Yarrow but I can show you the first iteration of it. The second one is taking an Arabic phrase, and making it in clay, which is supposed to resemble it three times. And it's playing on the number three as an important number in Islam and to me for how I discovered him. Yeah, right now I think this might be my favorite piece. It's a print. This was based on a bunch of research on him as a person and the things in his life and trying to bring all those elements of him together into this configured image of what it might have looked like to see him as a freed man. And being a stock owner and homeowner and all these things.

Zoe: What is your dream piece and why?

Sahiyah: Well, I think my dream right now would be to be a solo exhibitionist, seeing the work that I'm doing right now come to fruition. And seeing my latest project, come and present. And I've been thinking about an oral history project for a while. On the DMV and the social phenomena of a lot of black people either converting to Islam or wearing the cultural dress, or religious dress of Muslims, and what that was about what started it, and how it ended. There's like a little mini history of that in this area.

Zoe: What do you want your audience to take away from your work? How do you want them to feel?

Safiyah: I want them to learn about the histories, and the concepts that I share. And so, for my thesis exhibition that's happening next year, I share a lot of Islamic, or I should say Arabic phrases, used by rappers and culture. And I want people to know what these people are saying, and how it relates to or what it means. And I would like people to remember the legacies of Black people who are not in the public education canon.

Zoe: So would you say that what you want to accomplish and how you want to influence society?

Safiyah: Yeah, teaching through art. I often imagine myself being a museum educator and doing programming for middle and high school and even elementary students

Zoe: Where do you see yourself in 5-10 years?

Safiyah: Maybe not in Maryland. Salaried. I see myself working in community engagement, or public programming, or museum education at a museum teaching the subjects that I'm interested in. I've never really seen myself in the academia field, but I have been looking into some professorships. I'm hoping some museum opportunities and positions open up next year, because the market is very tight right now.

Zoe: What is the biggest challenge you’ve had to overcome as an artist and an activist?

Safiyah: I think, making myself do the work to figure out what kind of artists I am because I was very confused. I didn't know what I liked like three years ago. And these past three years have helped me develop the language for what I'm interested in pursuing. Oh, also, going from a graphic design and filmmaking background to more conceptual artist’s practice and social practice and trying to try my hand in those.

Zoe: What is the most interesting/inspirational thing you have learned through your art?

Safiyah: The most inspirational I guess we just have to be Yarrow Mamout’s story. Just because we hear a lot of narratives of people who are enslaved. And the popular ones like Frederick Douglas and Harriet Tubman, but we don't know a lot of other people's stories and so finding him was really inspirational to me and seeing that so much research has already been done on him. That's been cool.

Zoe: How do you want to be remembered as an artist and an educator?

Safiyah: I would like people to remember me as someone who liked to learn, someone who would like to share what she learned with others. Someone who liked to expose Black American and Black American Muslim truths.”

Zoe: Is there anything that I missed that is important for people to understand about you and your work?

Safiyah: Being an artist is constantly figuring yourself out so my answers to these may change in the next year. And that's the cool part about being in a profession where you can continue to evolve and study something that is constantly evolving like Afrofuturism. And so, yeah, I just hope to do my best in all the endeavors that I choose.