TOSHI REAGON
This is my first project with ForFreedoms I have always loved Billboards. When I was kid we drove a lot between Albany Ga. and Atlanta Ga. We drive back and forth between DC and Atlanta before finally moving to DC.
I would try to learn the Billboards. When I was asked to do this project I thought about the billboard being somewhere and folks seeing it over and over and having their own conversation. I picked a question from a song I wrote called Done Your Best. I picked a question that could occupy many layers.
I asked one my favorite artist Be Steadwell. She is safe now but was in the bay when they got the worst of the smoke from the nearby fires. She had to focus on safety. I asked my friend photographer Lola Flash if she would step in. Lola's eye is so generous. Her photos are textured and deminsional. She is a legend.
She has documented and created with LGBTQIA people -the lives we live, the epic battles we have won to take our rightful place in this world. She is a visual storyteller. She has been coming to my shows for a long long time and really understands what I am doing with music. I am so grateful that she trust me to engage with her work. She sent me several photos of this series. It is a series of self portraits. Lola centered in different environments causing a rumble of thoughts and emotions.

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LOLA FLASH

When I got the call, and heard the lyrics from Toshi’s song, I immediately knew that an image from my “syzygy, the vision” series would be ideal.
As Toshi mentioned, it is a self-portrait series. I am speculating, through an Afrofuturist lense, about the cultural conflict, which weaves our past, present and future.

In thinking about challenges that Black and Brown folks continue to rise above, Toshi’s powerful words, personally struck a chord concerning our unrelenting trials and for me, an answer to her question comes down to the love and hope we share.

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