Rainbow Serpent Black LGBTQ art collective brings British artist Ajamu X to Pittsburgh

According to Merriam-Webster, to be fierce is “to have or express bold confidence or style.” For those who participate in FIERCE Pittsburgh, fierceness means celebrating the vibrancy and resilience of Black LGBTQ Pittsburghers by immortalizing them in black-and-white portraits.

Created and executed by Ajamu X, a British photographer and artist, from April 2-7 FIERCE Pittsburgh will spotlight artists, activists, cultural workers, drag queens, scholars and community leaders based in the Steel City. Rainbow Serpent cofounders Marques Redd and Mikael Owunna tell Pittsburgh City Paper that since they’ll be posing for an internationally acclaimed photographer, FIERCE Pittsburgh participants are guaranteed to walk away with impressive portraits. Still, Redd and Owunna agree that FIERCE Pittsburgh is not only a photo shoot, but an opportunity to be documented as part of the archive of Black LGBTQ leaders in Pittsburgh and across the world.

“We want FIERCE Pittsburgh to expand the narrative of who belongs in Pittsburgh’s cultural landscape,” Redd says. “This is about making sure that our histories, our faces, and our contributions are centered and celebrated, and we want people to leave this experience with a renewed sense of pride, both in themselves and in the larger Black LGBTQ Community.”

During a tumultuous political climate, Redd and Owunna say, it’s more important than ever to celebrate and record the place Black LGBTQ Pittsburghers occupy in both the city and country’s history. Additionally, Redd and Owunna say that they’d like this project to celebrate the resilience of Black LGBTQ Pittsburghers while starting conversations between Black LGBTQ people in the U.S. and abroad.

Rainbow Serpent began in 2020 as a book club hosted on Zoom where Black LGBTQ people could enjoy books that explore traditional African spirituality through a Black queer lens. As time went on, they’d expand to take on a series of art projects and collaborations culminating in becoming a nonprofit in 2023. The organization has hosted international names over the years, such as Dante Michele, Granville Carroll, and artists based in the Steel City including Alma Levin and Devin Shamiyama, a writer and painter, respectively.

With Ajamu X as their latest artist-in-residence, Redd and Owunna say that they’re excited not only for the Pittsburgh-centric iteration of the project that has been seen in cities like Toronto and São Paulo, but for the Steel City to be introduced to Ajamu X’s work. Throughout his career, Ajamu X has obtained honors such as having his work featured in the Rose Art Museum, the Gallery of Modern Art, the Arts Council of England, and the Victoria & Albert Museum.

Both Owunna and Red have known Ajamu X since before he became Rainbow Serpent’s artist-in-residence and feel it’s a continuation of their previous admiration for his work.

“We really love working with the Ajamu,” Owunna says. “I published a book in 2021 called Cosmologies, which delved into and analyzed a new selection of my photography, and there was a chapter in that book that was a published conversation interview between Ajamu and me. So, [it’s] such an honor and pleasure exploring and continuing those conversations with Ajamu over the last few years. It’s been really an incredible experience.”

In collaboration with ALMA | LEWIS, an art platform dedicated to Black culture, during Ajamu X’s residency on April 2, Rainbow Serpent and Ajamu X will host a discussion called An Exquisite Texture of Light: Ajamu X In Conversation with Rainbow Serpent, which will explore themes of sensuality, pleasure and desire as radical creative practices, and Ajamu X’s career documenting the Black LGBTQ community internationally.

For Ajamu X’s part, the admiration the Rainbow Serpent cofounders have for him is reciprocated.

“I have known Mikael and Marques for years and love the work they have produced individually and as Rainbow Serpent,” Ajamu X says. “They truly embody my notion of what it means to be fierce. You only have to look at what they have created over the years in Pittsburgh, and the different spaces they have taken up — if this is not fierce, then I do not know what is.”

With regard to FIERCE Pittsburgh, Ajamu X says he’s looking forward to creating stunning images of individuals who are a part of the Black LGBTQ community, as well as the “unsayable” aspects of their lives that exist outside of their identities. He adds that he believes this project is one of many collaborations likely to be had between the trio over the next few years.

FIERCE began in its first iteration in 2013 in the UK, where Ajamu X photographed Black British LGBTQ artists, activists, and performers. As time has passed, Ajamu X explains, FIERCE has evolved into a lifelong project focused on helping Black LGBTQ people feel seen. When thinking of how FIERCE Pittsburgh’s final form will take shape in comparison to previous cities, Ajamu X says that he has no idea what shooting FIERCE Pittsburgh will look like as every city is unique.

“I have no idea who will turn up, which is exciting, that unknowing as part of the creative process,” Ajamu X said. “While the work is photographing Black queers, I am more interested who they are outside of those identities and the energy they bring. Fierce for me is not beholden to an identity, it transcends identity, you feel [it] when you see it.”

Ultimately, although the call for participants has come and gone, Redd and Owunna explained that participating in FIERCE Pittsburgh in this moment means being part of a celebration while securing a place in Pittsburgh history.

“I would just ask someone, are you fierce?” Redd said. “And I would tell people, this is the time for you to celebrate who you are, standing in your truth, to be part of something bigger than yourself. This is about centering our community on our own terms through art, thinking about how we can shift ideas around representation in the historical archive and in mainstream media, and at the end of the day, who wouldn’t want a museum-quality portrait of themself?”