Gesiye

For Black History Month 2024, we interviewed Black feminist leaders from the Diaspora whose expertise includes climate justice, art that centers land and relationship, collective memory, and executive leadership. Their work—and the solidarity they build—are helping shift the power within movements for gender and racial justice while redefining what success looks like. Explore the entire campaign, and join us in lifting up the leaders and organizations across the world who center Black freedom, Black joy, and Black dignity every day.

What is your name? What organizations or movements do you work with?

My name is Gesiye and I’m an interdisciplinary artist based in Trinidad and Tobago. Rooted in curiosity about the impacts of colonialism on our relationships with self, state and land, my approach is experimental, often leading to conceptual work that takes form through different mediums including film, tattooing, animation and performance. I work with a number of people to create space for the sharing of personal and collective stories, taking time to immerse myself in the environments and communities that I’m engaging with. Some of my collaborators have included schools, unions, queer artists, museums, farmers, police officers and local and international gender and environmental justice organizations such as the Equality Fund, the Alliance of Rural Communities and the Black Farmer Fund.

What are some of the key goals of your work?

My work is rooted in themes of connection and belonging, and in awareness of the power of storytelling. I have a deep love and respect for the earth and work towards a post-capitalist world in which sustainable care for our communities, rest and love are prioritized. My creative practice is relational—informed by my experiences as a Black, queer woman growing up in Trinidad and by my connection to somatic healing practices, my work facilitates encounters between the individual and the community and between the body and the land.

Philanthropy has historically overlooked and under-invested in Black feminism. Why is the connection between funding and shifting power needed to advance racial justice?

Access to funding is essential for individuals and organizations working to dismantle the colonial, capitalist power structures that rely on racial inequalities and that continue to exist in the contemporary world. While philanthropy is deeply connected to these structures, it is a tool which can be used to redistribute the wealth and power that has been extracted from the Global South, back into the hands of the people who need it the most. For me, this is particularly relevant in the arts which help us to imagine new possibilities, create new narratives and shape our world. Funding opportunities for artists creating with a Black feminist praxis are essential as they shift the power dynamics around who has the time, resources, and energy to pour into their creative practice.