MAHOGANY culture

Aisha Alleyne is a 26 year old artist who goes by the name "UZiMA". Photography, Digital and Traditional Art as well as Literary Arts are a few of the art forms UZiMA practices. 'Aisha' is of Swahili origin and means "full of life" while "Uzima" is the Swahili word for Life. As her names may imply, UZiMA's main inspiration is life; the major and minor aspects of it and she is often called "The Life Artist" by peers due to her ability to be inspired by the simplest of life's lessons. With no prior educational training in either artform, UZiMA learns daily from observing the universe and wants to show persons that we don't need a degree to express.

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Video

I approached Josiah to do a photoshoot with him because of my admiration for his skin. With no music, he began making movements with his body that I knew I had to capture via video. When I watched the footage afterwards, words began popping into my head based on his movements so I decided to get the video edited.

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Fizix Artistic Industries added the music, recorded my words and edited the video for me and I was in love.

This is how "Bloodline" was formed. The words speak directly to black people, our past, present and future. I hope you enjoy. – UziMA

 

Images

As black people we have unfortunately been strangled and continue to be strangled by slavery and its effects. In recent times however, more and more children of Africa have been accepting and appreciating their heritage. The white paint symbolizes slavery and I wanted it to look weathered to show progression of time while noting that its effects still linger. Each image tells a different story which I will leave up to your interpretation but together they tell the story of Our Multifaceted Greatness