DREXCIYA REDUX: AN AFROFUTURIST CABARET
Presented at New York Live Arts in collaboration with 3LD and Renegade Performance Group
with MX OOPS & TRIGGERED MUSIC, nia love, Sadah Espii Proctor, André M. Zachery and UFly Mothership
Hosted by Timothy Prolific Edwaujonte
In May 2020, Audiences were submerged inside Drexciya Redux: An Afrofuturist Cabaret in the 3rd-floor studio transformed into a digitally immersive experience of projection mapping and sound design, inspired by the mythological realm of Drexciya through interdisciplinary performances and queer interruptions by an intergenerational contingent of Black artists activating the possibility of a new world.
On April 10, 2020, Prolific hosted CONJURE: Poetic Pasts & Constructed Futures by Weeksville Heritage Center, a youth poetry competition for National Poetry Month, which was judged by Azia Armstead, Thaihera Nurse, and Tai Allen.
As an instructor for the 2021 Freedom Fellowship at the Weekville Heritage Center, Timothy facilitated “Genealogy for Black Folks,” which introduced fellows on how to synthesize documentation and creative process. The fellowship is a core aspect of Jubilee 11213, a cultural organizing and public performance project that takes place between 2020 and 2022 in digital space, in the Weeksville community, and on WHC’s campus. Jubilee 11213 is a creation of Ebony Noelle Golden of Betty’s Daughter Arts Collaborative, who is the current Weeksville Artist-In-Residence.
Timothy Prolific Edwaujonte was awarded a 2021 Create Change Fellowship through The Laundromat Project for their upcoming projects multi-disciplinary projects, Water + Blood and Egungun | Las Muertas Hablan | The Dead Speak, that live at the intersection of their creative, genealogical, and spiritual practices.
Latest Book Release
Ofrenda para las ancestras
Ofrenda para las ancestras is a poetic ritual reconciling the crossroads of identities that compose Edwaujonte’s bloodline — African, Indigenous, and European.
This offering explores the price of discovering one’s heritage as a child of the Afro-Indigenous Diaspora, set against the composite backdrops of genealogy, mixed heritage, gentrification, internalized oppression, systemic racism, and spiritual awakening. Edwaujonte’s poetics unravel colonized language and culture to remind the orphans of enslavement and genocide that the human spirit is unconquerable.
Sounds
“Purple” is a eulogy for my maternal grandmother, Mama Anna Veit, and written as part of the SLMDances multi-project universe “PURPLE.” Purple was also Mama’s favorite color.
Written by Timothy Prolific Jones (ne Edwaujonte)
Producer: Ebonie Smith
Bass: Noah Jackson
Cover Art: Timothy Prolific Jones (ne Edwaujonte)
“The Apocalypse as Seen Where The Waters Meet” (Published in Voicemail Poems, 2020)
“Orphans” featured on Greg G the Goldenchild’s single “Born Black” (2017)
Stream via Spotify, Apple Music, Tidal
SoSoon - “The Underclass (Remix feat. Charlotte Mishell & Timothy Prolific Jones) (2010)
Stream via Apple Music, Spotify, Tidal, Amazon Music
Selected Writings
Design by Timothy Prolific Jones
Blood on the Leaves
I wrote this poem back in 2014. Heartbreakingly, it is still relevant.
//
how much blood has to be offered
how many have to be sacrificed
how many Black boys and Black girls
must bleed for us to be 5/5?
Find me a reason today to feel American
that doesn’t involve murder.
I’m supposed to be a leader
supposed to have poems
and actions and answers
All I have is trails of tears
strangled by star spangled noose
blood on the leaves of strange fruit
How Are We Defining Justice?
From Left to Right: Breonna Taylor, George Floyd, & Regis Korchinski-Paquet | Design by Timothy Prolific Edwaujonte
This piece is for us, and for Breonna Taylor, and George Floyd, and Regis Korchinski-Paquet. It exists somewhere between poetry and prose.
Long before this pandemic, there was something airborne, a pestilence that spread first amongst white folks before it began to attack our bodies. The tightness in the sinuses moves downward and closes the throat… but a sneeze will not dislodge racism.
The system ain’t just, so how is it going to give us what it does not possess? What we demand is accountability under the law. And accountability under the law, while it is something we will fight for, is simply insufficient.
A Black Long Island Experience
Read Timothy’s ethnographic essay navigating their family’s history, genealogy, and reclamation of culture. Published on Medium.com
Genealogical Work
Timothy Prolific Edwaujonte’s journey to genealogy began with listening to the oral traditions of both sides of their family. At Hunter College, pro took a class with Professor MW Payne that sparked a hunger to more formally honor and investigate their familial origins. For more on this journey, read the Medium.com article that encapsulates a chapter of this journey.
On April 15, 2020, Timothy Prolific Jones presented at an event focused on sharing genealogical practices pertaining to the African diaspora. In the video recap, the session starts around the 33:24 mark.
In collaboration with Weeksville Heritage Center, MoCADA, Archival Alchemy, and Brooklyn Connection as part of Research Refracted and The Legacy Project’s public training series, this virtual event on genealogy research focused on the skills needed for tracing African diasporan heritage and understanding the specific challenges and strategies for conducting genealogical research in the context of the legacy of slavery and Colonialism. Presenters included genealogist practitioner Timothy Prolific Edwaujonte, oral historian Obden Mondésir; and NYPL librarian Jermaine Dennis.
Owo Foro Adobe
Creativity through Persistence
Blog Highlights
The Lasers Fiasco
Lupe Fiasco’s Lasers was one of the most anticipated albums of 2011, partially because it was supposed to be released during the summer of 2010. Atlantic Records unceremoniously placed the album in post-production purgatory, and by fall it seemed that the album would never see the light of day. A massive petition of over 32,000 signatures and a planned protest outside of the New York headquarters of Atlantic Records on October 7, 2010, tipped the scale in the opposite direction. All seemed right with the world. The underdog triumphed, and the emcee known for refusing to dumb down his lyrics would release yet another insightful, lyrical opus.
Repost: Lupe Fiasco’s Food & Liquor [Reviewed in 2006]
The year is 2005. Kanye West's 1st single for his upcoming album, Late Registration, is exploding over airwaves, and over my home stereo system (my dad's old analog receiver he bought when he was 17 coupled with my black ipod classic). It was during this time of Kanye-dom that I was up late one night on Okayplayer.com, and I found a link to a re-dux of Kanye's new single, "Diamonds are Forever", called "Conflict Diamonds" by a young Chicago MC named Lupe Fiasco. Lupe spoke eloquently on the topic of blood diamonds in West Africa, and elaborated on the civil wars and murder that loom behind the image of "bling" in hip-hop culture.
Critical Review: Nas + Damian Marley = Distant Relatives
It is no secret to many of you that I view art not as a product, but as a vehicle for culture. Nas and Damian Marley's Distant Relatives project brings this philosophy to the forefront of two genres of music. As a fan of both artists, as a lover of Hip-Hop and Reggae, as a participant in the culture, as a writer, and as a part of the African Diaspora, I believe this album to be a milestone. Not only is Distant Relatives an album, it is a documentary. Through multiple outlets, Distant Relatives explored the connections between Hip-Hop, Reggae, and Africa.
Last night. Brooklyn. Word. Goddess.
Last night, after my last excruciating 10 hour workday at the hotel, I changed from my cashmere suit into a pair of black shorts, a black & white polo, and a pair of low top CR's to match. I removed all things corporate, let the character wall I build as a hotel manager crumble to dust. The 6:41pm LIRR train pulls up, and I board with a few exclusive SoSoon tracks in my earbuds, messenger bag in tow. On the train, I unzip, and read a few more pages from the editing copy of Howard Treadwell's Dreams of Loisaida. I curse audibly because as I notice that I left the digital camera at home. No pictures with Ms. jessica Care moore. Now I will have to make a point of catching up with her again before she leaves for Detroit, or head out to Motown.
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