Blue Black & Green

Hodari B. Davis

Davis is an artist and activist whose work explores the pedagogical and artistic process of providing platforms for marginalized voices to tell their stories.  Hodari spent 12 years serving as the National Program Director and Lead Pedagogue at Youth Speaks, Inc. in San Francisco, and designing programs and projects to support young people in finding, developing, presenting and applying their voices as agents of change.  As an artist Hodari produces poetry, music, film and photography as catalysts for deeper analysis of the critical issues of our time.

"Blue Black & Green" is a film featuring the voices of African people from various places in and outside of Africa, speaking directly to the issue of climate change, and the future.  The "Blue" symbolizes the earth as a focal point for the conversations and celebrations in the film. "Black" is for the people of Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda, Trinidad and the US. "Green" symbolizes the hopes of all involved for a bountiful future for Africa and for the world.  This series is intended to be a catalyst for deeper conversation and mining of the perspectives of indigenous African people, African youth and African women about the impact of Climate Change on African communities.  The film series also intends to disrupt common narratives about Africa, identifying many cultural practices that revere and celebrate the earth, reorient our thinking about sustainability and provide expertise in responding to the coming crisis.  Lastly the film highlights the voice of the earth through running streams, whirling wind, rolling tides and rustling leaves, carving moments for the audience to treasure the words that are spoken by the people in the contrast to the sounds of the earth.  The call to action is to further engage African people and youth who are often left out of the conversation about climate change solutions.  

"Blue Black & Green" was filmed as an extension of a performance and education tour featuring International Recording Artist Candice Antique.  Her "Nappy Tour" formed the backdrop for our engagements and provided infrastructure for the project to travel around the world.  The film also features former Black Panther Party Member Mama Charlotte O'neal,  Wanjira Mathai daughter of Wangari Maathai, award winning poet and playwright Marc Bamuthi Joseph, and award winning Trinidadian youth poet Jeremy Joseph.  Also included are indigenous tribes from East Africa, and additional artists, and activists from various places around the world. 

The Nappy Roadshow Earth Cipher Project

Hodari B. Davis

THE NAPPY ROADSHOW EARTH CIPHER PROJECT

From the Artist’s Statement:

The Nappy Roadshow Earth Cipher project is a collection of voices, images, art and sound from communities that have been left out of the high level conversations about climate change.  The goal is to foster a greater understanding of its complexities and to make sure their perspectives are included in any plan to address the crisis.  This project includes music, poetry, photos, interviews, and other imagery to capture these perspectives in an immersive and multi sensory way. Included in this display will be the words of Wanjria Mathai, Mama Charlotte O'Neil, Candice Antique, Brave New Voices youth poet Jeremy Joseph and a host of others.  The journey to collect this work has included visits to Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda, Trinidad and Tobago and Oakland Ca. We are excited about the possibility of these voices being included in future conversations about climate change and its impact on diasporic African communities around the world.

ABOUT Hodari B. Davis

Davis is an poet, educator and organizer from Oakland California.  He has served as the Executive Producer of the Brave New Voices International Youth Poetry Slam and is one of the primary architects of the youth spoken word movement all over the world. His work spans the globe as he and his wife tour and explore African diasporic communities both on the continent and around the world, sharing their stories, art and history and learning cultural traditions  everywhere they go.