Feature Friday w/ Aja Nadi
How is your work informed by your identities?
My art work is informed by the identities I acquire by being a very inclusive artist. As a black person who is also pansexual, I try to bring as many different people as I can in front of my camera. I also try my hardest to have as many black people as I can on my page because I love my identity as a black woman, I see it as a strong suit even though it comes with a HUGE responsibility.
What art helped you come to accept your own LGBTQ+ identities? Which LGBTQ+ artists inspire you and your work?
I feel like my art as a photographer helped some, but people don't know that I make music as well. Writing the few sapphic songs I have over the past few years, it has helped me come to terms with how I really feel. The way my heart has been broken by the feminine and masculine, I am able to compile my feelings into song and express myself that way. It feels good to be able to write a sapphic love song, I feel like we need more of those for the youngsters to know that they're not alone.
Please speak to the importance of being proud, and what Pride month means to you…
I simply feel my happiest during pride month! Not because I am being commercially seen by the pervasive "pride" trends and advertisements, but because I can be just as loud as I am the rest of the year but EVEN LOUDER. I am a proud queer black woman and I would not trade my identities for anything else in this world. Pride month is a month to just be unapologetically proud of who you are and live on for those that can no longer celebrate with us in the physical realm.