FORESIGHT by Naima Penniman. 11"x17" print of the dedication painting for "Farming While Black" by Leah Penniman. Text: "We are descendants of futurists, carrying on the legacy of our ancestral grandmothers, who braided seeds in their hair before boarding transatlantic slave ships, believing against odds in a future of sovereignty on land."From the artist: "I created this painting to honor our visionary foremothers who braided seeds of prophecy into fertile crowns, as an act of resilience in the face of the most horrifying journey imaginable. I represented the black-eyed pea because it is a sacred food indigenous to Africa that is staple throughout the diaspora and shows up in so many beloved dishes (akra pwa, acaraje, hoppin' john...) and is a symbol of prosperity, blessings, and fertility. Also black-eyes peas are legumes that build soil health, like alchemists taking nitrogen from the air and giving it back to the earth, a method popularized by George Washington Carver, who was born into slavery and overcame unthinkable obstacles to become a pioneering agricultural scientist.What are the barriers in your life that feel impossible to push past?What are the oppressions that seem so entrenched in the fabric of our society?What are the seeds we can smuggle in the face of that, that might find a future on fertile ground?!"
