Community Curator with OlaRonke Akinmowo

What Happens In Between

In this week’s episode of What Happens In Between, I sit down with Ola Akinmowo, the Founder, Curator, and Creator of The Free Black Women's Library: a Black feminist literary hub and community care space that features a collection of over 5000 books written by Black women. Ola helps us understand how to explore the different routes of expression, creation, and art as a ritual of self-actualization. How do we explore our own identities in a society that is anti-Black and anti-woman? Join us on today’s episode as we explore what it means to be a Community Curator and a Self-defined Black Woman — who is choosing to thrive.

Topics Covered:

• Questions around speculative fiction, collage work, and performance art
• The concept of third spaces and commodification to assign value
• Pros and cons of social media: a meal for consumption
• Community as a connection to a common goal and how to learn from each other
• Three questions for our Seedling Round
• Ola’s perception of what it means to “be free”
• How Black women have to be a contradiction to exist fully

Guest Info:

Ola is an interdisciplinary artist and the curator, founder, and creator of The Free Black Women's Library, a Black feminist literary hub and community care space that features a collection of 5000 books written by Black women. This particular work is fueled by the tenets of Black Feminism, Community Care, and the transformative power of reading and creating to liberate, affirm, and heal.

Connect with Ola Akinmowo on Instagram, Facebook, and The Free Black Women’s Library Website. Support The Free Black Women’s Library here.

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Full Description

We can use speculative thinking as a type of dreaming as an expansive way to dream big. As the curator, founder, and creator of The Free Black Women’s Library, Ola is interested in the infinite possibilities in which we can see the world. She uses the library as a co-creation process between humans and the physical space they occupy. How does community care transform the world when there is a seat at the table for everyone?

The Free Black Women’s Library is considered a third space, but in Ola’s words, it’s “a space where black women can come and learn to read. To feel safe and feel free, within an anti-black, misogynist, misogynoir, patriarchal capitalist society.” Commodification is how we assign value — labeling and categorizing things help people better understand the mission. But how does language serve as another layer to what already exists, instead of a contradiction?

Ola reminds us to explore the different routes of expression, creation, and art as a ritual of self-actualization. Freedom is accessible, but there’s no finality to it. Join us on today’s episode as we explore what it means to be a Community Curator and a Self-defined Black Woman — who is choosing to thrive.

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