They say anger is an arrogant way of avoiding forgiveness. Bathe your soul in forgiveness. Bees and things and flowers. Living my best life in the sunshine. #afrika #girlrillavintage #girlrillalove #mylifeinthesunshine #royayers #selflove #sunlove #sunshine #sunkist #theeamazinggrace #wcw
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The Cite Aka Mic Bleed
For the community and spectators who seek an enriching experience “lyrics appreciation” #micbleed aims to provide a safe space for thorough entertainment complete with cultural purpose and vibrant energy.
For the artist/ performers cultivating their crafts the cite’ #micbleed aims to provide a safe space for thorough performance where artists are encouraged and inspired to present their finest visuals, truest audios and most pure spirituals. #ayeg #lyricsappreciation #micbleed #openmic #pavaartists #pavaagallery
Follow @pavaagallery @travelingfam on Instagram Visit their website for more: pavaagallery.com
Imani Edu-Tainers African Dance Company
Imani and featured invited guests present an evening reflecting traditional West African culture. Two exciting 45-minutes segments rely on traditional drum, dance, and song to represent significant contributions of West African culture to American society
Visit their website for more: http://www.imaniafricandance.org
Music Friday
Pavaa Gallery will be one of the “Music Friday” locations for summer 2018. Starting each 3rd Friday in June, DJ Gerri will be spinning the best in afro/world beat/drum/dance from 7 to 10 PM. No cover! 21+ BYOB. #artgallery #culture #dance #gerrimccritty #music #musicfriday #musicforeveryone #pavaartists #pavaagallery #shoplocal #thingstodoinlancaster #632nchristianstlancasterpa
Follow @pavaagallery on Instagram Visit their website for more: pavaagallery.com
Follow my personal pages @girlrillavintage and @girlrillavintagewears on Instagram
This black woman has had enough of hateful ass white people. Standing in the condiment aisle at GIANT Grocery Store on Columbia. You know how we sort of get stuck in one place (descisons, decisions)? Several folks mirrored the same. His very old, ignorant ass shuffled back and forth several times. I noticed him for that reason. He stopped next to me and said, “OK, what gives? What are you doing here? You don’t have a basket or anything.” I’m like huh? He repeated. I said, “Too bad it’s not obvious.” He went on, “You should at least have a basket.” I asked, “Does it look like I’m in fucking captivity?!” He walked off mumbling “testy” “get a basket then”. He complained to whoever would listen.
Instantly, “I’m the angry black woman” when he racially accosted me in the condiment aisle. A young, white guy told him that he was out of line because he didn’t say that to anyone else. I thought, of course he didn’t say that to anyone else because no one else was black. No one else, he could use his false sense of entitlement on. Young guys sentiment wasn’t enough. I wish white folks would call other white folks exactly what they’re when that happens, blatantly racist. #racismwillnotwin #thisisamerica
-Gracie
Fully realized 😍! Thankful to the healthy first beginnings I shared with my young mother. How she (begrudgingly breastfed, cuddled, hugged, and sweet talked me) as I developed. The language was love in a less than favorable environment. A language, I translated to cultivate my own love experience. And no matter how the foundation bottomed out, the love she passed along did not. Gace face. Sharing for you mama. Rest well lady.
-TheeAmazingGrace
#afrikanculture #ancestry #girlrillavintage #nurturegrewmylove #nofilter #smilingformama #wcw
I remember my brotha @phototheft calling my home a mini art museum because of the introspection, the look, the way it felt. He went on to call me Ogeechie, as if there was something special about my past. Made me nostalgic of my college days, the way people seemed enamored and terrified of my freedom all at the same time lol! Made me feel that perhaps I was in fact born fully realized after all lol! Art that is meant for me always finds its way home. Meet mama Kenya and mama Bessie Smith two of my newest. Both wildly vintage. Both starkly beautiful. Timeless. Women crush. Both thrifty in price. Having been a conscious collector for about 25-years, I collect art for the way it makes me feel and for the stories behind it.
Mama Kenya…
Came to me from an online resource in rural York County PA about a month ago. The person that owned the piece of art spoke of it as an inanimate object that had no meaning or value. Said that it had been in his basement covered in cobwebs & dust for 35-years. He continued to share a story about his girlfriend back then that worked as a missionary in Nairobi Kenya, East Afrika. He described how cool it was when she came back with all these sculptures, the shield and a spear. As you likely can guess the relationship didn’t last and in time the shield aka Mama Kenya was forgotten. I asked him why NOW did he want to get rid of the art piece. He told me that it frankly didn’t go with his current motif, plus he was married with children, LOL!
It’s funny, in a weird way, the way it all happened because he had no way of knowing the cultural significance the “dusty” old shield from Nairobi Kenya meant to me. How, my life’s work is literally to love and liberate my Afrikan cultural identity and those attached to it. How, I had just completed my Afrikan DNA test through africanancestry.com, the day before. How, I was in the process of making Afrikan inspired shields for Imani Edu-Tainers African Dance Company’s 23rd Annual recital coming up in June 2018. When we made the exchange of money and goods I beamed inside and hurried into my car before he could change his mind. I thought, what a gift I was just granted. He thanked me for being the one. I welcomed mama Kenya home!
Mama Bessie…
She appeared to be waiting for me at the corner of Woodland Ave and Chester Ave. My family and I went over to the Uhuru Flea Market in Philadelphia that day, the first one of the year, last month. There she was, a profile, beautiful like the black behind a starry nighttime sky, leaned up against an old dilapidated vendor table. She was the first portrait in a stack of about 10 other portraits and profiles. I fell in love with how she wore Afrika on her skin and in the depths of her eyes.
Interestingly, I remember learning about her in 4th grade at Samuel B. Huey Elementary School in Philadelphia and again while in undergraduate school at Lincoln University in PA, but never took the time to really know her story, her music, her legacy. That night I submerged myself in her brief bio on Wikipedia. I gleamed at the way she lived such a vibrant and full life. I cried at the way her life ended at age 43. How racial discrimination of the time lead to her death. How racist white doctors and ambulance drivers refused her entry into their white hospital near by. How the image of her broken body going into shock from the blood loss. How time wasn’t on her side and they left her there to die in route to the black hospital, hours away.
I was moved by ancestors to smudge. I smudged everything. All of the air, her picture, mama Kenya, mama Bessie’s terryfing final moments. I smudged it all away and asked for their permission to uplift their memories. Their vibrant memories. I believe the acceptance came when the wind blew calm and warm.
I’m always grateful to love my people through all of our stages through life, death and in-between. To hold space for these ancestral artifacts in my home and in my heart is more than art collecting, its my birth right of passage, an honor and a privilege.
In awe of their stories.
-TheeAmazingGrace
#afrikanface #africanart #artistsoninstagram #bessiesmith #girlrillavintage #mycollections #ngunihide #uhurufleamarket #vintage #warriorsheild #wcw
GirlrillaVintage the Blog 