Out My Mind Just in Time: Block-o-Rama!

I've been losing my mind in the past couple of weeks trying to sort out the pieces of my life, but who needs a mind anyway it slows you down! Now, I'm back and I'm busy! I'll start off by saying that I can name few things better than community engagement, a $1 BBQ, performances and crochet! One part of my life has been around trying to get ready for this event coming up in Torontos own Regent Park! If you are free this weekend Saturday August 17th and in the neighbourhood, you should definitely check out Regents Parks annual block party Block-o-Rama! The event this year is titled "Own the Block", why you ask? Amidst the massive revitalization project happening in the area, this youth lead and organized initiative serves to reclaim and own space in the community. I have been blessed with the privilege of being welcomed to be a part of this community initiative and I am so so amped! I'll be selling some goodies and will be hosting a free and always fly crochet picnic with my girl Crafty Chas. So seriously come check it out and see how we do what we do!

Who? Performers, vendors, myself, you & your friends

What? A Block party!

Where? Daniels Spectrum @ Regent Park

When? Saturday August 17th 2013

Why? Why not?

Smiles :)

Tuly Maimouna

R&S: 'Natural'

Over the past few years it's like black women have finally realized how truly funking fly they are and I have been observing how women where I live have been coming into themselves, which is an absolutely beautiful process! From my personal experience I have noticed that this emerging dialogue of self love is deeply rooted in changing the way we talk about, interpret, and experience our natural (unprocessed) hair. As I mentioned in a previous post R&S: Genie Locs the Story of a Queens Crown I have had my crown for around 11 years now, and because of that I have felt very disconnected from this conversation. My crown is no reflection of self realization and I never intended for it to make a statement. Yet I find that more and more people assume that my hair is some political statement of self acceptance:

"I love me a natural sister"

"I am so happy to see a young woman accepting who she is!"

"How long have you been natural?"

So I have been asking myself, for real tho, what is this thing called natural that everybody keeps talking about? If I have a face full of make-up am I still natural? If I daily eat processed foods am I natural? If I clean my house with products that pollute the environment am I still natural just because I have unprocessed hair? Y'all know how I feel about saving money and within this I have come to find that being natural should aim to be a more holistic lifestyle and not just about how we look, present and see our selves. It should aim to include how we treat both our bodies and natural environment and look at the effects of what we put into them. After all the state of our environment greatly affects us and our health, including our hair! So my R&S project is...natural cleaning products!

I have to apologize I didn't mean to build up all that suspense to bore you with cleaning, but I am really serious! Improving the health of your living environment and ridding it of toxic and abrasive chemicals is just as beneficial as cleansing your hair from harmful chemicals such as perms, dyes and products. While admittedly cleaning your house does not have the same social meanings and realities as black women's hair, I would welcome you to think about the parallels between the two.

1. It is far cheaper than buying chemically processed products
2. You reduce the amount of pollutants you use and expose yourself to
3. It is a lifestyle change that forces you to think about how to treat and value your environment/body

I always think, why should I clean my house with highly toxic products that clearly state that if I have had prolonged exposure, have ingested, inhaled, or has caused skin irritation I should call poison control? And then they try to tell me I can cook on and use these surfaces daily? Yeah right. In the same way people have stared to ask why we should use hair products that damage, strip, dry and thin our hair. The only difference between the two is that the outcomes of using toxic products in our hair are more or less visible we can see, feel and touch the damage. As opposed to exposure to toxic cleaning compounds where it is harder to identify tangible negative outcomes. You could alternatively buy all those eco-friendly products, but they make investing in less toxic eco-friendly environments really inaccessible by being grossly over priced. Forget em! I have a 'natural' money saving cleaning method that only requires two products!

1. Baking Soda

2. Vinegar

Vinegar is acidic and acts in the same way as bleach, when you leave it and let it soak it is an effective disinfectant and cuts grease. Baking soda acts like soap and easily scrubs off and lifts any kind of build up of dirt, and can be used as a deodorizer & laundry freshener. You can also use baking soda to cleanse you hair, whiten your teeth, bake, exfoliate your skin, clean fruits and the list goes on. Both are non-toxic, non polluting products that you can find at any dollar store, and are used for purposes beyond cleaning. Each is like a 100-in-1 multi-purpose product! All this 'natural' goodness for just one dollar each! I'm about it! In short changing the way we talk about, interpret and experience our selves should be linked closely to how we do the same to our environment as it also influences and impacts us physically. What ever natural means to you it has the potential to shift towards having a healthier, more respectful and positive relationship with our environment, and just as equally with ourselves. 

love your natural environment, love the natural you and your wallet will love you too!

Smiles :)

Tuly Maimouna

Meno: Eco-friendly?

MENO
[meh-no]
$20.00
wooden necklace w/ teeth

 I was recently approached by a classmate of mine who asked me to make some pieces for an organization she works for. They are looking support local crafts persons who make eco-friendly products. I was surprised to be approached because I have never really thought of my products as eco-friendly, but after a short conversation I realized that being 'eco-friendly' is a large concept that encompasses many different components. If you have been following my blog for a while y'all know how I feel about recycling and saving, but my point of view was more from personal economics. I never thought that being broke helped to reduce my environmental footprint! 

Instead of throwing away a necklace of mine that had broken, I decided to take it's best parts and make something new! I love wooden beads, they have a beautiful look that no other material has. This recycled black and white double stranded necklace is detailed with four teeth, so I decided to call it meno which in kiswahili means 'teeth'. I like to wear this on days when I am feeling fierce! 

Now, not only am I saving money & looking fly, but through reusing existing materials I am to a small degree reducing my personal eco-footprint!

Reduce, reuse & look fly!

Tuly Maimouna

My vulva is...

My vulva is...http://myvulvais.blogspot.ca/

A couple of months ago I wrote and artducation post talking about the crochet vulva pins that I make and my personal response to how bodies of colour have historically been sexualized and represented. They have been selling out completely, i never would have imagined that they would be received in such a positive way by such a diverse array of people. Since that post I have had many interesting conversations that have opened my eyes to the different social, political and biological meanings that vulvas have. So I have been busy at work putting together a new blog where people who have vulvas, love em or simply want to know more about them can come and share knowledge that speaks positively about our bodies from our own experiences. I so humbly invite you to check out My vulva is... and to think about/share what your vulva means to you and why you would wear your vulva.

Smiles:)

Tuly Maimouna

R&S: No pins no problem, the loc pompadour!

One thing that I am not a fan of making are hair pins and hair ornaments. Why? I simply hate using them. It's normal for me to lose bobby pins and hair ties in my hair for weeks, they are painful, and because of my crown they never seem to be big enough. And by the way, have you always noticed that the pack of bobby pins slowly disappears until there are none left...seriously, where do all of them go? I just got tired and annoyed, so I could never think of inflicting my misery on someone else! To save my self the heartache (and some money) I resolved to do away with them a long time ago....but then I had to start looking for different pin-free ways to style my hair. After trying head ties, hair nets, and string of all sorts I had almost given up, but I found that my own locs were the solution! Either using the spine of foam curlers, pipe cleaners or bantu knots/chiney bumps, curling my locs has been amazing in helping me cut the middle person (i.e pins) out of the styling picture. The curls are able to intertwine and hold together really well to make my favourite hairstyle, the Pompadour! This R&S pin-free hairstyle takes about five minutes to do, looks amazing and requires no tools or money. I leave it to loc and circumstance because it looks different every time I do it. I just play around with it until I get the desired look. I started making this hair style about six years ago and ever since it has become my go to style. Peep the pics below to see the pomp over the years in action!

 Get inspired by your frustrations and exercise a little creativity! You'll see how easy it is to turn your problems into solutions you can definitely take to the bank. 

Smiles :)

Tuly Maimouna

By The Way: Would you like to know how to curl your locs? Drop me a line and I can write up a step by step how to post!

Uchungu na Tamu: Life Lessons

This has been a very interesting week that has brought about a lot of reflection on the people around me, family, people who say they are my friends, those who are my friends and those who have come into and left my life. Through this reflection I have leaned that life can have a harsh way of providing us with lessons, and you can only learn these lessons through the mistakes you have made along the way...but from mistakes arise new opportunities. If you choose to ignore the omens placed before you or doubt your intuition, ultimately you are the only one who will suffer from regret or loss.

So onto my not so new creation. I made this scarf a while ago and I got really upset because after I washed it, it stretched about three sizes and didn't look all that good anymore. My mom and I went out for dinner one day and when she put in on I realized it looked amazing as a shoulder poncho!  I added a button to the front that works to adjust the size of the poncho at the neck...I also thought it looked really cute! So this once scarf that I though I had mistakenly ruined provided an opportunity for my 'newest' old creation to come to fruition, which left me thinking of the kiswahili proverb:

 Mla cha uchungu na tamu hakosi: he who eats bitter things gets sweet things too

Uchungu na Tamu
Shoulder Poncho with button
$35.00

Life is an interesting experience and sometimes the lessons we learn leave us thinking of what we should have, could have or would have done...the thing is we have to be able to translate these lessons into our existing relationships and en devours. Otherwise we are at risk of living in vain and rendering those relationships (or in this case a scarf) meaningless. 

I guess we can only know sweetness through tasting bitterness. 

Smiles :)

Tuly Maimouna

Duwara: Full circle

When I was in Nairobi, Kenya late last year I was staying in Eastlands mlango kubwa (big door) with a friend and both of my cameras, her camcorder and all our money was stolen...how unfortunate! But as my mom told me "it was baptism by fire" so I can now call myself a true Kenyan. You have to laugh about the situation, but be thankful that we are both still alive and well. So as a result of this loss the quality of my pictures has decreased significantly, but ultimately I'm flooded with pleasant memories every time I try to take pictures of the new stuff I have made. I have learned that it's the memories, people and experiences that make us, not the things that we acquire along the way. So in regards to that, I have been feeling like I have come full circle this year. The people I have met, the places I have been and the experiences I have experienced have all been blessings in full view. It has been such a privilege to feel the rough edges chipping away to me becoming a well rounded individual, and getting closer to realizing who I am and what I appreciate in life.  So this creation reflects that.

Duwara earrings are bright, bold, and so lightweight I even forget I am wearing them. I only make one of each pair and design so they are really one of a kind!

Duwara
[do-wah-rah]
Circle earring

  Also circles just look really cute!

Smiles :) 

Tuly Maimouna

P.S I also have to note that these earrings were inspired by the beautiful designs of Luz Arte who is making crochet jewelry inspired by Spring's flowers, nature and color, check her out!

Acts of Kindness Crochet Picnics!

What is better than spending an afternoon in the sun, eating some food, crocheting, making some new friends, and occasionally having a drink? I love picnics and I love to crochet, so blending the two is absolutely mind blowing! This Crafty Chas/Tuly Maimouna mash up has been such a positive and indescribable experience so far, we have been so blessed to meet some of the most beautiful people living in the Toronto area. Every Sunday from 1:00pm - 4:00pm throughout the summer the two of us will be teaching people how to crochet in various Toronto city parks...but why you ask?

The sad thing about living in a huge metropolitan city is that seldom do you get the chance to sit down and interact with the anyone, it's a bit ironic how easy it is to feel isolated and alone in a city of roughly 2.8 million people. So as an Acts of Kindness (AoK!) initiative we decided it was high time to break down the bizzare social interactions and norms found in the city and open ourselves up to meeting new people through skill sharing. We are taking full advantage of the gorgeous summer weather and using crochet as tool to not only network, but as a means of spreading a little love...which we love to do! 

A group of friendly drop ins

Tuly Maimouna & Crafty Chas

Crochet Excitement! 

The beginnings of crochet artists

So if you're ever in the Toronto area and have a free Sunday, bring a blanket, a friend come learn a skill!

Acts of Kindness

Don't work for your hustle, make your hustle work for you! 

Smiles :)

Tuly Maimouna

'Contemporarily' Historical?

When I was in high school as a part of my a final media project, some peeps and I came together and made a documentary on HIV and black youth in the city of Toronto. Mind you the population of colour in my school was minimal, there were only three authority figures of colour and a scoop of black students. The racial divide was clear, yet the school did nothing to address that. And why should they? Most of us were there due to circumstance trying to attain our french immersion certificate. Bless their hearts, they really tried their hardest to get the darkies out by attempting to convince our parents that French was not our strong suit and we'd get better marks if we dropped out of the program. Dropping out would have led to us ultimately having to leave the school and go to schools closer to where we lived. There is always a clear message and distinction between what people say and what they do. Our school did not provide many opportunities (other than black history month) for youth of colour to address issues that are relevant to them. As I said before in a previous post, black populations are seldom represented beyond traumatic events, and this includes black history month. There is too much focus looking at the past while we ignore the contemporary issues that affect our present. There is a huge disjuncture in creating linkages between historical and contemporary 'blackness', we are contemporarily historical! My problem was and still is that black history month celebrations never seem to be more than a show, in the ones I have attended seldom have I been left thinking about current issues. That is why it was so important to make this documentary around HIV, we wanted to outline how race as a systematic reality in Canada affects vulnerability to HIV and stress why youth involvement in all capacities is beyond necessary.

While that documentary is now a bit dated and I have since graduated high school (and yes of course with my french immersion certificate), recently some friends and I got together to try and address the different aspects of vulnerability to HIV within communities of colour. Taking a more holistic look at what the African, Caribbean and Black (ACB) community looks like, this multi series installment looks at the different challenges and barriers faced by young persons of colour through the different aspects of their identity beyond race. Participants were able to share ideas about what HIV looks like or does not look like, and examine the obstacles faced in those contexts. Through a collaborative effort each individual had their own installment within the larger idea of sex and sexual health. The creative process was entirely up to the group empowering them to explore more personal ideas of self, community and HIV, and to interpret and identify the intersecting points through their own eyes and own lived realities. Check the images below to see a bit of what we did!

While this is not a craft I normally talk about, it is true that different art mediums produce different responses, outcomes and interpretations. The audience is able to place themselves within an image that fairly represents the artist, and it has the ability to facilitate an internal dialogue that informs external ones. This collaborative effort was effective in doing that because each piece of work served to work as a means to reclaim space and increase visibility in a way that each individual wanted to be represented. I believe that the use art mediums has the potential to challenge ideas that place the onus of talking about and understanding race relations on populations of colour while somehow neutralizing white populations in these discussions. Artistic forms cut across all borders and transfer messages we are seldom given the chance to vocalize. If my high school experience taught me anything it was that we have to work together to create platforms where our lived experiences are given meaning and they become building blocks and tools of power for the present and future.

crafts speak volumes!

Smiles :)

Tuly Maimouna

R&S: Moisturizing Face Mask!

 I remember when I was a child my mom would always have some type of face mask on, and I was always afraid to go near her because she used to get a kick out of scaring me. She'd hide then jump out with her eyes opened really wide making some kinda noise...I guess you have to find the simple pleasures in parenting at your children's emotional expense? While quite traumatic at the time, to my benefit it had no lasting negative effects. Recently after reflecting on that period of my childhood I decided to bring back the face mask at a fraction of the cost and with all natural goodness! This weeks recycle and save (r&s) project is the.. 

Turmeric and Henna Moisturizing Face Mask!

I came about this beautiful mask new years eve of 2009, a friend of mine was over and had brought a container full of turmeric and she said that she uses it mixed with some water on her skin to get this beautiful glow. So I decided to building on that with a few extra ingredients I happened to have sitting around the house. Where to get the ingredients? Firstly, I don't even deal with the health food store, they are too over priced for no reason. Check any food store and you'll find everything you need. As the for the green henna I buy it at the Somali market, but if you aren't lucky enough to have access to one, any Indian food stuffs place will for sure have some. Either way, look around its a great way to get to know your neighbourhood!
DISCLAIMER: If you have lighter skin or are white the turmeric and henna will stain your skin a visible reddish yellow...do this at your own risk!

Ingredients:
1 tbs Turmeric

1 tbs Curry Powder
1 tbs Green Henna
2 tsp Almond Oil
1 tsp Glycerin
1 tbs Lemon Juice

Instructions:

1. First you want to prep your face by putting some lemon juice on a cotton pad to clean off your face. Lemon juice acts like an astringent or toner, and cleans the dirt and oils off your skin. Here is what mine looked interesting after a wipe down...

Cotton pad after cleaning my face

NOTE: Lemon juice is also used as a natural bleaching agent so avoid using it too often! If you have sensitive skin add a bit of water on the cotton pad to lessen the sting.

2. Mix all the ingredients in a small bowl until it reaches a consistency like the picture above. You can add water if it is still too thick.

3. Apply on your face and keep it on until it starts to dry and crack (about 1 hour or so)

4. Wash mask off with soap & water

NOTE: if it is a bit hard to wash off I like to get some brown sugar and GENTLY rub in circular motions to exfoliate the rest of it off

Your skin will be feeling soft, supple and have a healthy glow to it! I use this once a week along with the brown sugar and honey body scrub I shared with y'all earlier to keep my skin game on point. Because of the glycerin and almond oil in the mix you don't even have to moisturize your face afterwards. Your kitchen cupboard and fridge provide some wonderful beauty secrets if you're willing to check em out, giving dual purpose to so many readily available and cheap goods! I haven't bought products in years simply because I don't really have to, in recycling you save some dollars in new ways! Now I have a way to scare my own children while keeping a full wallet and looking good in the process!

Smiles :)

Tuly Maimouna

Mchele: Rice Bag Purse

I have come to the conclusion that yes, I am naturally a hoarder. Apparently that is a bad thing, so a means of consoling myself I simply define it as "seeing endless possibilities, where others do not"....okay yes my work space is beyond crowed, but you learn to work within organized mess! You can't force inspiration, so until it hits you you'll just have to learn to see the beauty in your pile of junk. This idea finally came to me after wondering what to do with a couple of rice bags that I could not bring myself to throw away, they just look so fly! So before this beautifully designed bag could find its way to a landfill I snatched it up and got to work. It's a good size, light weight and has just the right amount of "where'd you get that?". 

Mchele
[Mm-che-leh]
Rice Bag Purse
13.3" x 11.5"
Material:100% Hemp
Inner lining:100% Cotton

Inner lining & inside pocket

Take some time out of your day to imagine, and you'll see endless possibilities too.

Smiles :)

Tuly Maimouna

R&S: Genie Locs: The Story of A Queens Crown

I have had my locs - which I call my crown- for roughly eleven (11) years now I used to dye my crown different colours, do wild hair styles, shave some off, reattach em you name it and over the past decade I have had some crazy conversation that often leave me wondering (and praying) for the fate of the human race.

"You know when the rapture comes you won't ascend to heaven with those things on your head..."

"We have to look like respectable and professional black women, that style doesn't say that"

"Oh my gosh I could never get locs it is such a huge commitment!"
"You're just rocking em for fashion...rent-a-dread"
"You are so exotic"

I would like to say that never have I invited these conversations, and they happen in everyday life, on the bus, street, work, parties you name it...and sadly I end up walking right into them. Outright undeserved criticism, perverse notions of my assumed 'otherness' and other peoples insecurities...I promise you these conversations got tired a long time ago, but at last as with many things in life you win some and you inevitably lose some. It happens. I can assure you that no one can ever tell me I don't look hella sexy! My crown asserts my presence in a room without me even having to say a thing, I enter and leave rooms feeling like a queen in my own right, and I can not be dethroned unless I lay my crown to rest. 

So how does all of this = a recycle and save project? Well, I cut my locs shoulder length about a year ago, and started missing the length I used to have. I tried adding braids multiple times, mistake. It was so heavy my neck hurt...plus my head looked so big! Not cute. Anyway,  I met up with a friend of mine who I had not seen in a while she had these beautiful long locs, and I was shocked cause the last time I saw her she didn't have em. she simply told me "Girl, its just yarn!"

Yarn is a simple way to add length to existing locs, or can be added to non-loc'd hair as a substitute for the synthetic hair bought at the hair store. I remember when I started loc'ing I hated it, they just looked nerdy to me poking out all over the place. So for anyone looking to avoid the awkward stage of locs this is the perfect style! Most importantly its a pocket friendly lengthening en devour! It took about three days on and off to complete (with some help of course), looks %100 like my kinky hair, its light weight and super fly. By recycling some black yarn I had lying around the house from various projects and some free time, I got to work and the final outcome was sexier than I could have imagined.

 

Genie Locs - half up, half down

Genie Locs - Up do

Materials:
1. Yarn Needle
2. Worsted Yarn (that matches your hair colour)
3. Scissors
Where do I get em?: If you don't have any of these materials you can most def find them at any store similar to Wal-Mart

Instructions:
1. Insert and pull the yarn though the eye of the needle
2. Pull through eye of needle until desired additional length of loc
3. Use scissors to cut yarn
4. Thread through the tip of loc (with about 1 cm from the tip to work with) until both ends of the yarn starnd are even
5. Use scissors to cut yarn again (to remove the needle)
(You should now have the yarn threaded through your loc and have two pieces of yarn on opposite sides of it)
6. Fold one of the two pieces in half and hold (this is where you decided the thickness to match your loc)
7. Use the opposite (unfolded) yarn to begin braiding (making sure to keep the other piece folded)
8. Braid part way down, then start to twist all the way to the bottom
9. Tie in a knot & cut

Thats it! Now you have another use for yarn!

Tips:
1.The more times you fold the yarn in half, the thicker the loc will be. (to match the size of my individual locs I folded the piece in half twice)
2. You can choose to burn the end to make sure it doesn't unravel, but it doesn't look too good, or real...I tried -_-
3. If you run out of yarn to braid/twist with DON'T WORRY just cut some more and continue
4. Braiding and twisting give slightly different looks. Twisting looking more loc like and braiding less loc like (not visible from far, but more so up close)

 Who says you can't look cute just cause you're broke?

Smiles :)

Tuly Maimouna

Have any questions? Something not clear? Just ask!

What happened to all the book worms?

Book MONSTER!
material: 100% worsted
Size:10'
Stitch: Single crochet

....the book monsters ate em all! Growing up I was never really too big on books, mostly because up until I was in grade three I had trouble reading. The weird thing is that I always used to read with my mom before going to sleep as a child, but for some reason when in school the ability somehow escaped me...so I used to attend after school reading classes with my homeroom teacher. Since then I have developed a healthy appreciation for reading, I have come to the conclusion that it stems from past inability! My appreciation has manifested its self in different ways throughout the years, and reading has developed beyond an action or pass time to a deeply personalized experience.

I first started reading novels by black authors when I was in high school. It first started off with black erotica, anything from Eric Jerome Dickey to Mary, B Morrison was a must read, which is probably attributed to underlying teen sexual frustration haha! But more importantly while reading I started to realize that it was hard for me to imagine black characters in novels, and to this day it honestly still proves to be a challenge for me. I thought "oh gosh, has my mind been white washed?" This was really a troubling thought for me, so I started to look for books that distinctly addressed historical events pertaining to the black diaspora. Books like, Roots By Alex Haley, The Book of Negros By Lawrence Hill and so on. While this proved to be helpful, I hated the idea of black populations not being represented beyond traumatic events of displacement, and mostly I did not relate to these stories because my experience of 'blackness' is fragmented between being a racial minority and being of East African decent.

While searching for 'new' types of stories, to my surprise (not really) the only ones I could find in school/public libraries & book stores were stories about slavery,  war/political/civil unrest, travel guides or half-assed romanticized Eurocentric novels about African countries. Never stories of the Africa (I am using this term loosely) I have known, lived and understood. I also started to wonder why novels by African authors outside of those themes are so inaccessible. A lot of novels available on African countries tend to speak to non-African understandings of those countries experiences, so stories of love, families and everyday life outside of trauma, poverty and despotism seldom matter or exist in the conscience of the reader, or more frequently, the idea that these themes can not exist seperately. In the search for new literature my eyes were forced open to ideas and questions that extend beyond the books themselves.

I only recently started to think critically about the novels I had been forced to read throughout primary and secondary school. What obligation or responsibility does a white author have to represent bodies of colour? Should schools be forced to teach black diasporic history beyond slavery? What implications/ repercussions does ignoring contemporary African history have on the black diaspora? How has the absence/under representation of bodies of colour in government school curriculum, and mainstream media affected how and where people of colour place themselves within these exclusive and selective outlets, and how does this effect the way we navigate ourselves through everyday life? While all these questions require larger discussions and subsequently greater actions, my first step is to change the limitations my socialized imagination by inserting characters of colour into contemporary western stories that I read to challenge normalized ideas of white bodies as a neutral or default characters, and secondly to continue reading novels by various African authors past and present.

Books by various African authors

My favourite novels by African authors:
1. Ambiguous Adventure - Cheikh Hamidou Kane (Senegal)
2. Tsotsi - Athol Fugard (South Africa)
3. Tales Told by the Son of Kenya - Aggrey Chepkwony Sambay (Kenya) 
4. Going Down River Road - Meja Mwangi (Kenya)
5. A Grain of Wheat - Ngugi wa Thiong'o (Kenya)
6. Things Fall Apart - Chinua Achebe (Nigeria)
7. On To Kilimanjaro - Brain Gardner (this book is an exception because is not by an African author, but it gives you a very clear definition between self representation, and othering )

If you're a book worm like me, don't let the book monsters take away the ability to exercise your imagination by keeping truly reflective stories out of reach. Go out and look for a good book.

Smiles :)

Tuly Maimouna

P.S. If you are interested look up Roots (Alex Haley) vs.The African (Harold Coulter)...a really interesting back story to our friend Kunta Kente and the so called "timeless American Saga"

Dolli

Dolli
size: 18'
material: 100% worsted
stitch: single crochet

I decided to make a dolli of myself...why? It has always been a challenge to find a black doll that I can look at and see myself. Just cause a doll has black skin does not mean it can stand to represent the complexities and variations found within black populations. So this dolli is my big "Eff you". If how I look is not marketable or profitable, I'll do it myself simply because I can.

Smiles :)

Tuly Maimouna

Shamili

-Shamili-
$15.00
beaded earrings
materials: bamboo
size: o/s

My newest creation on my oldest model, isn't she's wonderful?

Smiles :)

Tuly Maimouna

Artducation: Vulvas?

Crochet vulva's

 I have been making these vulva pins for a while and giving them to my friends as gifts, as well as rocking my own. I have been presented with varied reactions from both friends and strangers

"Ew!"

"So F***ING COOL!"
"What is that?"

"Why would you make this?"

Why would i make this...? It is not so much the question that bothers me, but the tone in which the question is asked. There is a lot of disgust and hostility, but ultimately interest. I was recently at a symposium where we spoke about how different vulva's can look and how in text books they are presented as uniform; symmetrical labia, hairless, and cut off from the rest of the body. So that night I came home and looked up diagrams of vulva's. I was baffled (not really) when I tried to look for diagrams that show vulva's that belong to bodies colour and...surprise! I found none! Now you might think, well a vulva is a vulva...right? Yes and no. Sure I've got a vulva and you may have one too, but historically bodies have been presented through race (racialization) and through that, differences have been assumed to justify many historical events that books don't often tell you about. Let us take a few steps back and look at the well known hottentot venus exhibition of Saartjie Baartman, a relative of the Khoikhoi ethnic group born in 1789 in the Cape of Good Hope, South Africa.

In 1735, Carolus Linnaeus (1707-1778) divided humans into four racially classified subspecies: Homo sapien americancus (Amerindians), europaeus (Europeans), asiaticus (Asians), and afer (Africans) (Hamilton, 2008).  Later, anthropologist Jonathan Marks attributed traits and behaviours to these subspecies, calling the afer “black, impassive, lazy. Hair kinked. Skin Silky. Nose flat. Lips thick. Women with genital flap; breasts large. Crafty, slow, foolish. Anoints himself with grease. Ruled by caprice.” (Hamilton, 2008). Another example of this is the French scientist Georges Cuvier (1769-1832) who also based his findings on the taxonomy of Homo sapiens and depicted the afer as “marked by a black complexion, crisped or woolly hair, compressed cranium and a flat nose. The projection of the lower parts of the face, and the thick lips, evidently approximate it to the monkey tribe; the hordes of utter barbarianism.” (Hamilton, 2008). From this established approach to race in academia in the eighteenth century, there is an acknowledgement and acceptance to the validity of the racialization of traits and the hierarchy based off of it. The Hottentot Venus exhibit recreated and brought these ideas throughout Europe, it specifically reinforced and reflected race based on the social hierarchies that existed. The presentation and representation of black bodies in contrast to white ones placed emphasis on differences, and more specifically differences of physical anatomy. The anthropological rhetoric represented the Hottentot as primitive, inferior, secular and uncivilized  and from this made distinct connections between the Hottentot and animals. Labeling black bodies as primitive attributed animal characteristics to them, such as animalistic instincts of reproduction  “…Buffon stated that this animal-like sexual appetite went so far as to lead black women to copulate with apes” (Gilman, 1985). Academic travelers went further as to say that the black woman also show external signs of being primitive, from “Steatopygia a protruding buttocks resulting from the accumulation of fat, and what was then called the “hottentot apron” the elongated labia of the genitalia” (Moudileno, 2009) (see fig.1). 

Saarjtie Baartman’s exhibit relied heavily on the discourse created by academic and scientific elites. These assumptions  presented as fact romanticized ideas about non-white populations, and constructed a false identity that according to Gareth Knapman (2008) pushed non-white populations to a status below that of white Europeans. By labelling these populations as animals, an ideology of inferiority became common thought.

fig 1 the external genitalia of the Hottentot Venus, standing upright

200 years later and this is the only image of the vulva of a woman of colour?! So when someone asks me why I made this I tell them that I am serving to represent my own vulva, sexuality and ultimately myself. And of course I'm gonna make a pin and make sure its all up in your face! Additionally I love making people feel uncomfortable...for a good reason though! I believe that when we are the most uncomfortable is when we are in a space to absorb knowledge and have conversations that we might not otherwise have. We must keep in mind that knowledge and academia are never depoliticized spaces and they entirely selective, meaning there is choice in what is included or excluded given the political and economic climate...think of it like the news, there is always another part of the story we don't hear and we have to be critical and ask why. Knowledge as a form of power is inaccessible for a variety of reasons and it has always been used as a tool of inclusion and exclusion....but that's a whole other conversation!  It's actually hilarious to me when it falls on the ground, and someone will be like "oh, you dropped something!" they go to pick it up for me, but immediately hesitate and retreat once they see what it is. I always say "Ooups, I dropped my vulva!" smile and walk away. Sometimes you have to laugh at other peoples expense, so make things that have a personal statement and challenge normative ideas, it makes your craft that much more meaningful.

Smiles:)

Tuly Maimouna