The Awakening of Araba Ankuma
Read below to discover the awakening of the womxn, as we embark on this adventure and build a community of womxn like us, who see the world before us and vow to shatter the glass ceiling that’s held us back. We’re super souls, realizing who we are and reimagining the space we inhabit at large. Take your leap.
Awakening of the Womxn; The Awakening of Araba Ankuma
WOMXN: (noun) a being free to make their own decisions, unconcerned with what anyone else is thinking, content with their self, looking like a bag of m$ney — Araba Ankuma
Sidestep the darkness of misogynistic racism to create your own space, one that’s colorful and a mixed bag of blended beauty. Current state of mind sounds a little something like this,
“And Noname quit the weed
Happy with sunlight in my weave”
Noname on “Angles”
When will we find it in ourselves to create that feeling of higher purpose and freedom for ourselves, for all womxn? That day comes when we realize our own spirituality, a roller coaster of life that brings us to the peak. The tracks were laid down by those womxn before us, who inspired us. It was us, wondrous womxn, who gave permission for the ride to begin. We’re learning to harness the power of life and harness the things that we need to keep moving forward without fighting against them or fighting against ourselves.
It’s 10 a.m., and I’m sitting in my bed, wearing a yellow quarter-zip sweatshirt, hoping it exudes a sort of bright confidence as I wait for the video chat to connect with this brilliant stranger. After a brief five minutes, I’m graced with the face of Araba Ankuma.
It’s 4 pm in ghana, where Araba is sitting in a side room of her family home. She’s wearing a white camisole and rocking some locs in her 4c hair.. The light comes in from her left, illuminating her face and its smoothness. An interesting dichotomy to the light that shines on my right, the red blemishes I had hoped to hide with my 4a curls unmistakeable. It was a stressful time of year—the week preceding my leave for holiday break—but I was hopeful this conversation with Araba would show me what it means to be a womxn in this world at this time.
Araba is an artist and an image-maker. She is an old soul twisted with a drip of modern ideology, for the world is her toolbox, and she cannot wait to see what masterpieces she can create from it. Connected through a phone screen and two camera lenses, separated by thousands of miles, I looked into the mirror of myself and saw what I hope she saw in me: an awakened womxn.
Dripping in melanin confidence, fingers moving with the grace of an artist, Araba Ankuma pulls me through this virtual screen, telling me the story of her awakening.
Recently promoted to Special Projects Coordinator for an idea shop called Humbleriot based in New York, Araba curates cultural experiences. Similar to my position within Off-Kilter, Araba serves as the right-hand to the creative director and owner of Humbleriot. It’s something we connect on, a shared place in our respective awakening to womxn and her glory.
“I am looking at my pictures and I’m like, this isn’t enough for me anymore,” Araba said. “To call me a photographer just doesn’t—it’s not solely what it is that I do. Storyteller, definitely. But now I wonder how I can show people that I’m creating these stories.”
In tandem with her position at Humbleriot, ASA Productions will always be Araba’s creative child. It was back in 2017 when Araba birthed it, putting all of her visual content and photography there to tell the stories that were ripe and rife at the time. Araba flexes with her work, her creative process, and her passion for bringing a vision to life through human connection. Looking at the pictures of her past now, Araba has decided to open up her role to the world as something more than just a photographer.
“I always try and find projects to focus on and content to create, not just for contents sake, but because my work has always been about the invisible narrative,” Araba said to me, hands moving wildly about, brown eyes alit with unmatched excitement for her future endeavors.
She’s pulling back from the camera in this chapter of her awakening, switching to a more directorial role. Now, she brings teams of people together to execute projects and stories, specifically black artists and people of color who are working behind the camera. It’s a powerhouse move, delegating production to the creative minds of others, allowing people of all shapes, sizes and colors to unite in their defiance of the mainstream and the status quo. Instead of taking a position as a “creative,” Araba defines her role as artist and image maker. With a hand in directorial leadership, she hopes to break the old, white, male mold.
“I’m realizing I don’t need to be the photographer on a project myself,” Araba said. “I need to be the one helping someone to realize their vision. It’s a reawakening.”
In the image making industry, a lot of what is hurting people of color is the lack of resources or the lack of access, exhausting the very people who have carried the industry with their original ideas. Often, they’ve had their stories stolen or whitewashed to fit the white narrative society has grown accustomed to, scared of a colorful change. But exhaustion is what drives us—the ones that have been left behind and intentionally forgotten, hoping to finally find the break that we’ve been yearning for. The world was asleep, we realized, and it was our job to wake it up.
That break will only be given should those in power create a space where true talent can thrive and the unconventional can cure the bland achromat of mainstream media.
As for Araba, she hopes her image making is what wakes up the sleeping silence around her, participating in the revelation of what is really important in life: the continuous commitment to learn and always move forward, evolving into something better than what we were yesterday. The time has come to shake people from their sleepy perception, and show them there is so much more to see. There are others that can still teach you, if you give them the space to let their voice ring loud and true. Are you making room for their world? We think it’s time you did.
“Proper self-awareness is hella difficult, but I think we can do it. Together. It’s like being cast away in the ocean. Sometimes you just gotta ride the wave of life and let the huge waves knock you,” Araba said, golden rays flickering on her skin as she shifts positions, the light catching different parts of her womxnhood. “You’ll notice the water is much less aggressive when you’re just floating in it, when you’re just letting it take you. Eventually, you’ll be able to build you own raft and lifeboat, so you can direct that course that you’re going to use, the sails for the wind, they’ll help move you this way.”
Imagine a world of womxn, an awakened world where there was no glass ceiling barrier—only the limitations of our own prowess and innovation. For years, decades, and millenniums, we’ve been pushed to the back, taken from only when needed, taken advantage of...left behind to be forgotten. That’s the old story. Today is the awakening of the womxn, a beautiful community we’ve built here, and we can’t wait for you to help us continue to write our story.
A story of a womxn like us.
