Jessi Jumanji is a multifaceted visual artist from Memphis, TN, currently residing in Los Angeles, CA. With a proverbial fervor for history, nature, and the otherworldly, Jessi Jumanji’s artistry lends a contemplative perspective of the black experience, born of Africa via the Deep South. Exploring the many dimensions of Afrofuturism through digital collage and painting, Jessi inspirits the essence of Africa from antiquity to contemporary generations, illustrating the Motherland, reconciled with her past and optimistic for the future.

Humanity's origin lies in Africa, the cradle of humankind. Consequently, Africa intrinsically has an all-encompassing, ever-expanding impact and influence on all of civilization. I often illustrate modern day people of the African diaspora as the main character and focal point of historical iconographies. Using collage to juxtapose and superimpose images of black people with historically significant imagery and artifacts, I aim to reconcile countless years of underrepresentation and erasure of African history and influence on a global scale. I regard my disciplines of artist, archivist, and historian as duties to the Ancestors to undermine longstanding racist narratives by deconstructing and recontextualizing media derived from the colonial gaze.