Rainbow Serpent Hosts International Artist Ajamu X in Pittsburgh
Pittsburgh, PA – Rainbow Serpent, a Pittsburgh-based nonprofit organization co-founded by Marques Redd and Mikael Owunna, welcomes their first international artist-in-residence, Ajamu X, to Pittsburgh from April 2-7, 2025. Ajamu X is an internationally renowned fine art photographic artist based in London whose aesthetics celebrate Black queer bodies. He has received an honorary fellowship from the Royal Photographic Society, and his work sits within many private and public collections, including The Rose Art Museum, Gallery of Modern Art, Autograph, Tate Britain, Arts Council of England, and the Victoria & Albert Museum. Ajamu will bring his celebrated photography series FIERCE to Pittsburgh during his residency, capturing striking black-and-white portraits of Black LGBTQ Pittsburghers.
“At Rainbow Serpent, we are deeply committed to advancing Black LGBTQ cultural heritage, amplifying stories that often go unheard, and creating spaces for healing and empowerment,” said Owunna. “We are proud to have the visionary artist Ajamu X join us in Pittsburgh. His work challenges, elevates, and deepens cultural conversations and will enrich our city.”
FIERCE Pittsburgh will spotlight Black LGBTQ individuals in Pittsburgh who are shaping culture, activism, and community—artists, cultural producers, drag queens, scholars, organizers, and unsung heroes. Rainbow Serpent and Ajamu will seek subjects for this powerful series through an open call on the Rainbow Serpent website.
The residency will commence with a public artist talk entitled An Exquisite Texture of Light: Ajamu X In Conversation with Rainbow Serpent, presented at ALMA | LEWIS, a contemporary art incubator. Scheduled for April 2, 2025, at 5 PM, this discussion will explore Ajamu X’s decades-long career documenting and celebrating Black queer communities worldwide.
“Rainbow Serpent is honored to bring Ajamu to Pittsburgh,” said Redd. “Having had the privilege of sharing Rainbow Serpent’s mission and artistry across the globe, we can now offer Pittsburgh a unique opportunity to engage with the work of an international leader in contemporary art during Ajamu’s residency. We are thrilled for the City to experience Ajamu’s brilliance and his depths of scholarship, as he builds a visual archive of Pittsburgh’s Black LGBTQ community at this important historical moment.”
About Rainbow Serpent
Rainbow Serpent is a Pittsburgh-based nonprofit organization dedicated to advancing Black LGBTQ culture through emerging technologies, innovative healing protocols, African cosmologies, and multimedia art. Co-founded by artists Marques Redd and Mikael Owunna, the organization’s work has been experienced by audiences across the world and includes live performance, film, extended reality, music production, public artwork, curation, sculpture, and installation. Notable large-scale public art installations in Pittsburgh include The Three Sisters, an architectural light design on Pittsburgh’s Sister Bridges, and Playing the Cosmic Strings, a mural commissioned by the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra and Pittsburgh Downtown Partnership.
Website: www.therainbowserpent.org
About ALMA | LEWIS
ALMA | LEWIS is an experimental contemporary art platform dedicated to Black culture, fostering critical thinking, dialogue, and creative expression. Through artist residencies, world-class exhibitions, and the Black Archive—a research space featuring rare books, publications, and artifacts—ALMA | LEWIS provides a foundation for artists, scholars, and writers to engage deeply with Black history and culture. Serving as both a home and a hub within the broader arts ecosystem, ALMA | LEWIS is committed to sustaining rigorous artistic practices and presenting transformative work that challenges and expands the intersection of art and equity.
Website: www.almalewis.org
About Ajamu X
Ajamu X is an acclaimed fine art studio based / darkroom led photographic artist and archive curator. His work, theoretical provocations, aesthetics unapologetically celebrate Black queer bodies. His black and white images also pose the imagination, fiction, and play in opposition to constant framing of Black queer bodies and nuanced lived experiences from within a sociological framework.
Website: www.ajamu-studio.com