Jessi Jumanji
COLLAGE ARTIST • PAINTER • ARCHIVIST • CULTURAL PRACTITIONER
Bio
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.
Artist Statement
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.
Solo & Group Exhibitions
"The Black Angel of History: Myth-Science, Metamodernism, and the Metaverse" (2022)
Carnegie Hall, New York, NY
"Afrofutourism: First. Female. Forward." (2022)
Red Door Gallery, Lagos, Nigeria
"The Phoenix Project: Continuing the Dialogue from 1992" (2022)
Korean Cultural Center, Los Angeles, CA
"Atlantis to Saturn: A Portal to Joy" (2021)
William Grants Still Art Center, Los Angeles, CA
"Black Spectrum" (2021)
Aziz Galerie, Los Angeles, CA
"Defiance of Juncture" (2021)
ArtShare LA, Los Angeles, CA
"A Beautiful Struggle: Black Feminist Futurism" (2020)
Urban Institute for Contemporary Arts, Grand Rapids, MI
"Curating the End of the World" (2020)
Google Arts & Culture, Online
"The Cookout: Kinfolk and Other Intimacies" (2020)
MoCADA, Museum of Contemporary African Diasporan Arts, Brooklyn, NY
"AfroAlchemy" (2019)
Alkebulan Cultural Center, Pasadena, CA
"Yesterday, Today, and the Future" (2019)
Alkebulan Cultural Center, Pasadena, CA
"Four Women" (2019)
Avenue 50 Studio, Los Angeles, CA
"Back to Black" (2018)
Avenue 50 Studio, Los Angeles, CA
Arts District, Los Angeles, CA
"The AfroFuture" (2018)
WorldBeat Cultural Center, San Diego, CA
"The Jumanji Effect" (2017)
Bee Gallery, Cincinnati, OH
"Black(s) to the Future" (2017)
Festival, Paris, France
Artist Talks
Creative Capital - Archival Storytelling Workshop (2021)
Guest Speaker, Virtual
SXSW - Cultual Resilience in the Arts (2021)
Virtual, Guest Speaker, "The Future of Open Archives: Hidden Voices"
Guest Lecturer, Claremont, CA
Skidmore College
Saratoga Springs, NY
Guest Lecturer, "Remixing and Reimagining: Strategies to inspire."
Published Works
"Space-Time Collapse II: Community Futurisms, Volume 1" (2020)
Cover Artwork
"The Black Speculative Arts Movement: Black Futurity, Art + Design" (2019)
Contributor
Copenhagen University "Women Gender & Research Journal" (2018)
Cover Artwork, Article illstrations
TV & Movie Features
The Last Days of Ptolemy Grey (2022)
Apple TV+
Insecure (2021)
HBO