During her CPP residency, artist OlaRonke Akinmowo challenged herself to create a writers collective as an expansion of the mission of The Free Black Women’s Library. Drawing inspiration from a photo she found of “The Sisterhood”—a 1970s writing group whose members included Toni Morrison, Alice Walker, and Ntozake Shange—she founded Obsidian, a collective of contemporary Black women writers, with the goal of publishing a book. For over a year, Obsidian met two to three times each month to workshop their writing together and also went on multiple field trips throughout the city, including visits to The Met. At the end of their time together, Obsidian published Pretty LIttle Brick, a book featuring work from each member.
June Jordan, on far right, with Toni Morrison, Alice Walker, Nana Maynard, Ntzoke [Ntozake] Shange, Vertamae [Smart-]Grosvenor and others, 1977. Photo courtesy of Schlesinger Library, Harvard Radcliffe Institute
“This writing group has expanded on my vision for The Free Black Women’s Library in multiple ways,” Ola told us. “It has affirmed my firm belief in the power of gathering. It’s also shown me how healing and cathartic it can be to write as a practice, even if you don’t call yourself a writer… It’s a way of releasing, it offers a chance for movement and it offers you a chance to reflect.”
The Met’s Civic Practice Partnership (CPP), launched in 2017, catalyzes and implements creative projects that advance healthy communities by bringing the skills and interests of neighborhood stakeholders together with those of The Met and artists who are socially minded in their practice. Invited CPP artists work in their own neighborhoods across New York City and at The Met to develop and implement ambitious projects and forge meaningful collaborations.
Learn more about Ola and The Free Black Women’s Library’s CPP residency.
The Civic Practice Project is made possible by The William R. Kenan, Jr. Charitable Trust.
