Oral History Archive

Interviews

as part of Free the Land! Free the People!

a study of the abolitionist pod

Huma House

Interview with Tobias Tubbs and Meetra Johansen

June 2023 | Leimert Park, CA

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Makayla Howard (MH): Who are you and what is your role at Huma House?

Meetra Johanson (MJ): My name is Meetra Johansen, and I am the co-founder of Huma House.

Tobias Tubbs (TT): Tobias Tubbs and I'm the co-founder of Huma House as well.

ali reza (ar): What year was Huma House founded? 

MJ: We started [it] in 2020, right during the pandemic.

MH: What inspired the founders’ to create this organization? 

MJ: It was the pressures of what was happening during COVID that led us to really start Huma House. It started - actually - I was supposed to be a volunteer at San Quentin Prison, and I wanted to teach art classes there. But because of COVID, there was a whole lockdown. And I was by myself thinking like, how can I contribute to what's going on? I was seeing what was happening inside the prisons. They were putting people who are sick and people who were healthy in the same cell. People were being put in solitary confinement. It was a total disaster inside the prisons during COVID, during the height of it. And so I wanted to put together an art show that represented the voices of the people inside to show everyone here what was actually happening. So it really started out with one art show. I was collecting art from people who are inside, [who] were sending artworks to their loved ones, to their family for me to show. And I was writing letters to people inside to ask them if they wanted to be part of this. It was just one show. And actually, that's how I met Tobias.

TT: Mm hmm.

MJ: Do you want to talk about how we met? Because that’s essential.

TT: Yeah. Around 2018. After 28 years of incarceration, I received a commutation from the honorable Governor Jerry Brown. And, I grabbed a few books, and I had a young man in the cell with me named Kenneth Webb, [who] is an artist. And I was very instrumental in introducing him to art to get past the traumas of his childhood. His father was arrested for selling drugs in the community, and his biological mother was on drugs and had him during that process. And so, being arrested at a very young age, 16 years old, [there were] very few outlets that Kenneth had to deal with his trauma [and] his sentence. And so, we enter him to a place created by our brother Christian Branscombe. That art does nothing if it is sitting in cells and it can't come out. So I smuggled [like] nine pieces out with my property and I felt like it was like a revolutionary move. You feel me? Like I was like, literally getting Kenneth out. And I posted them up at Hot and Cool [Cafe]. When I met Tony, I was working at Hot and Cool [Cafe], which is now ORA. I was cleaning floors and drains, and I used to do little shows myself of Kenneth’s art. Kenneth called me and he said, Brother, I love you and all that you're trying to do with different art but I have one person and I believe that this amazing individual named Meetra is going to take me and our goals to the next level. And so we met during COVID, outside, and when we laid the art pieces out, Meetra put on some white gloves. So I was like, oh, man, I don’t got my white gloves. And she went on one about "These are precious pieces, artifacts”, and I was like, Wow, she gets it. You know, these are relics of a space, remnants of a space that would not exist in the minds or hearts of many. [Because] we've been discarded. And so now, I was 48 at the time, Ken is in his twenties. How are we going to get Kenneth to the world? So we had to have a platform. And so, mama Huma, in the name of Meetra, said, Brother, this is our platform. So that's what it's called. We joined [and] connected in that space. In the name of Kenneth and all the Kenneth[s], and all the feminine forms of Kenneth[s] - Samantha[s] who was in there, who need voice, who need community, who need connection, who need advocacy. And so, her having a natural space and herself for that, me coming from out of that space, that's what brought about Huma in the form that it is. Meetra was very adamant and intentional about creating spaces for people like myself.  Sad to say, we're not the focus anymore. You out, 250 dollars. Be on your way. After 30 years of the most inhumane treatment and conditions I’m supposed to manage and function and I’m supposed to be of the best of them. So just imagine. And so, having Meetra saying, not only do I believe in Kenneth, not only do we have a platform in Huma, but I believe in you. So all that I missed in business school, she didn’t miss. All that I did miss in world travel - She didn't. So she poured herself in me and I poured myself in her; and that informed now what we have at ORA, which was once called Hot and Cool [Cafe], to create the spaces of healing for previously incarcerated people and anyone who's in prison. Some of us are imprisoned by ideas and ideologies, not our own. Some of us were imprisoned by childhood trauma and bad relationships, fear and anything else. So, those come and we address that. So the need, and the state of prevention - so we don't have to be the Kenneth’s at 20 [or] 30, or Tobias at now 52 - is prevention, and we're not going to cherry pick the babies that's going to fit the grant and get the easy money. We're going to get down - we're going to get down. And, so we’re honored to tell you, today is transitional age youth out of Crenshaw. So, we are now taking young men and women, 18 to 27, and providing them Huma love. There's no love like Huma love, not just [through] the mythology. It’s the love of Meetra and Peter, which is her husband, and the love of  Onica, her daughter. It's a love of me and my family. It's a love of Tony Jolly and his family, who are the owners of the space. It's the love of Crenshaw, Leimert Park, and everyone who's here. It's a love of our strategic partners who are now giving us a voice to speak. That's Huma love. It's a communal love. It's a community love. It’s ancestral love. Our ancestors prayed for us to be here, it’s divine love. God of many forms, male and female, who made it possible. So, that's what Huma provides on real levels; every day. You know, so to answer your question, this is what is the DNA. It's the imprint of me and my sister, daring to go against all odds, to bring about what we call Huma love.

ar: Under what conditions and circumstances was the organization founded?

MJ: So it was really during the height of the pandemic. I had just quit my job, actually, I quit my job before the pandemic started. And I was supposed to go on a world tour with my husband, actually to travel. We were supposed to set sail in March 2020. So it's kind of beautiful the way it happened. I went into this meditation retreat, and I came out [of] ten days [of] silence. And, I came out and was just hit with the pandemic, [and] the reality of it all. So with that, I was meditating a lot. I was going inside, I was reflecting, I was really feeling, kind of like channeling, trying to find where my steps are supposed to go. Because, before that, I was an art dealer in New York, an art dealer in Madrid, and I studied art history - that's my background. And when I was little, actually I'm half Iranian, so my grandmother had these Persian carpets and I would sit, I would kneel, on the Persian carpets and read the codes, read the symbols, inside the carpets, and see the animals and really feel that ancestral spirit that Tobias talks about through Persian mythology. So during this time, during COVID, when everyone was kind of inside - for me was like a part two of my meditation where I'm like, how can I get back to that spirit of when I was a little girl, and where those symbols really spoke to my heart. Because before that, I was working in really commercial spaces where I really respected that element, because it allows artists to live. But, I was thinking how can I marry that really creative spirit that I kind of lost in that space. So with that as [an] assignment, that's where Huma kind of grew inside me. I was really wanting to find a space that was about community and creativity, that has that commercial element. So artists - because we work with artists who are coming out of prison, where artists could really flourish and get paid for what they do, but where that money also feeds back into the community. So like Tobias was saying, right now we have a youth program. So we're doing [an] after school summer program, a right of passage for transitional age youth. We meet on Thursdays, every week. It's [an] eight week program, so that's starting up in July. That's what we're renovating the classroom for. And then we also have an art program where we show art that has a message. Art that has an activist spirit. So those are the two elements of Huma House. Yeah, so that's how it started. 

TT: You know, it started with me, with need. It's one thing about understanding incarcerated spaces, modern day plantation[s]. There's [an] absolute need all the time. So, we have the capacity to meet need, and the greatest capacity is to love infinitely, without restriction, without intellect or regard. Meetra, Peter, [her] husband, Kimmy, which is my significant other trusted us enough to spend long, tedious hours. Bringing about. It's not really planning, it's meditation, as you said. It's [a] sacred mantra and haiku and prayer. It's becoming the symbols in which we honor [in] our ancestral heritage. To meet need, and the need in our community was simply, trust. You know, there's a lot of distrust, and there's no love if we cannot trust each other. So Meetra and myself had to trust each other, in our different gifts and talents and experiences and views. And then from that trust we can start to imagine, and often reimagine how do we meet the need. And it's always from the underpinnings of love. My experience inside of the prison, I was first to hug men. I first tell men that I love them. I was first, like my father did me right here in Leimert [Park] kissing me on my cheeks and forehead and telling me I have value. This is very important. We hurt each other because we're hurting, and once we can create spaces of healing, we can help each other heal. So, the need was for trust. The need was for love, and the need was for community. And so, you know, we came here to Leimert [Park], which is the center. You know, this [is] what it represented in the seventies when I was a baby boy before the wars on drugs, the wars on Black faces and spaces, you know, that devastated the spirit of here. So who suffers the most during wars? It's the babies, the children, the womenfolk, you know. So, when Meetra says we created a space not only for the children but for artists of all kinds to have adequacy and entrepreneurship and to be seen, heard and paid, you know, that's revolutionary in its own. And we're talking about, you know - we're from the booster, we from the mud. If someone ain't funding it, we're going to fund it. We're gonna get it, we're going to do it. And we getting the babies from South Central, Compton, wherever a child is at, we're bringing them to the space. So, if you ask me what was the dynamic that brought about Huma House as a collective effort between Meetra and myself? And, I always say Peter and Kimmy, because without our significant others this would not have been possible. Was meeting the need, and being okay with what we have, and not worry about who is giving, who not giving, who believing, and who ain’t believing. We believe in it. So we're going to fight for it. So, those were the circumstances, the situation from our perspective on how Huma has become what it has become.

MH: Can you describe the community that this organization is founded in? 

MJ: We started with - it's called re-entry population, so these are people reentering back into life after prison. But, what was really special is that in the midst of doing this, we started working with youth, like Tobias was saying. So with transitional age youth, we had a garden. So we were working with - kids would come to the garden and we didn't even tell them about the garden. It was just all happening really organically. Tobias and I had a moment where I was like, well, I really want to make sure we honor the community that when we started, which is for the re-entry population and Tobias said, “We [still are].” I'm re-entry. Tobias is re-entry. The teachers that are teaching the classes are re-entry. You know, they're coming out of incarcerated spaces. Not only through incarceration, but like Tobias said before, people who are re-entering into themselves after being incarcerated by ideologies, by fear, being imprisoned by  habits, their spirit is crumbled. So when we said re-entry population, Tobias and I are really conscious of the  fact that we mean people who are re-entering into their spirit after - re-entering into love. That was really important. So I think that's the community for us.

TT: For myself, yes what Meetra said [of course] and we are offering humanity a counter-narrative. So yes, it's for a specific demographic. But, ultimately this is the point of the media and art that we're able to show mayors, governors, council people, state people, people in general, that we’re more than our worst moments. And, that's what Huma shows. That we have the capacity to be resilient. We have the capacity to transform our lives. All we need is space, trust, and love to do it. So I believe yes, it’s for the re-entry people, family, but it's also for everyone to see that we can do this if we’re just given - or we take the opportunities, the resources to get it done.

ar: What spaces have done similar work in the past and have inspired this organization?

MJ: Well, really the Crenshaw Dairy Mart. You know, I found out about you guys, I think I was just maybe reading a magazine or something. I just saw that you took a liquor store, a dairy mart. I mean, it was like a grocery store, right? And, then you transitioned it into an art gallery, and you were working with the community. And for me, I saw that and I was like, Wow. That's really exactly what - I love that spirit. That's the kind of spirit that I want to bring, in any endeavor that I do. That was actually one of the first times that I was able to see the things that were kicking around in my head really manifested and actualized. Then before that, like there are some - I was in New York before, so,  Pioneer Works. They're out there in Red Hook. They're kind of oriented on science, but they had this beautiful warehouse space, and they work with the community. Museums in general. I traveled a lot around the world to meet different artists in spaces. For example, one of my friends, his name's Sumantre. He set up a community, and there are these abandoned temples in the countryside of Bali. These artists repurpose this space and are working in this beautiful spiritual space, kind of in the jungle area. They have this community of artists who are showing their work, and really helping each other. So, those are kind of the firmaments of inspiration that I was working with.

TT: Personally, I come from a lot of ancestral spaces. My ancestors from all throughout Africa, have always created spaces based on hieroglyphics, art, etc...But, in my lifetime, I got out of prison, the first month I get to Los Angeles, I'm speaking at Hauser & Wirth Art Gallery, one of the most prestigious.

And this is my first time speaking outside of prison.  And, “If I was president” [and] I'm speaking and it's a sister right there in front of me. She keeps saying, “Aśe, Aśe.” She’s egging me on. It’s Patrisse Cullors, and I didn't even know who Patrisse Cullors was then. So just from that point in time, I'm like, man, that sister got soul. Then I was invited to [an] event, to a movie showing, and it was at Crenshaw Dairy Mart, then she came out. From that point, I knew that was a model that I wanted to be a part of and that, yes, we in the Hauser & Wirth[s] of the world, most prestigious art galleries, but we on Crenshaw, too, and we can take our light inside of our own communities, but connected with the larger world. She was my first example of that, in my community. So I always say to my sister, “Aśe.” That event [at Hauser & Wirth] was something, because I had all my bros with me who got out. We just came from a barbecue celebrating, and I felt some kind of way just leaving and going to speak. So I invited them and when we got there we seeing Mercedes Benz, Lamborghini... I'm like, oh, I didn't know what Hauser & Wirth was, or what it was. I just know, we was invited to speak. So, I invited them too, these Black brothers [with] 24 inch arms, great big beards. And then, all these white folks. So we divided into twos, and then we were strategically placed throughout the venue. And when I spoke, I was drawing off of all of our experiences. And then as ali [reza] and our sister Patrisse, they got it and I felt it. And I seen it. Then, I knew I belonged, because we come from a different kind of space. And so, I've always appreciated y'all for that. And so to see that we are on the same strip of Crenshaw, just on two different ends, doing the same work, is always humbling. You know.

MH: Describe the impacts of the Covid-19 pandemic on your work. 

MJ: So before this, I was working at a gallery here in L.A., and before that I was at Gagosian [art gallery] in New York, and I say the name because they're also super prestigious, like Hauser & Wirth. They have this amazing - it's really like a museum - like space. And, the artists that they bring in are really powerful. The first show I worked there was a Picasso show, and I was really blown away by the material and the way that they presented it. Just basically, I was in awe. It was really a behemoth, a very prestigious organization, and I learned a lot there. Then, to bring it back to COVID, I think what happened was this world, it just shook the whole world. You know, the whole world is going through the same experience. When does that happen? It just is historic. Everyone was experiencing the same thing, like social isolation, being closed in, fear. Especially when it first started, no one knew what it was. How you could really transfer [it], how you could get it. And I think it really shook people to either come together or isolate in - find a new way to come together. And I think that really calls for a different kind of way to present art, a different way  to really present art, to see art, to show art. I had felt that for a while, I wanted to bring something that had a community element to it and that really spoke to this different age that we're stepping into. I think COVID really polarized the world, but it also kind of pushed us to come together when we couldn't actually physically be together. I think it was really powerful in a way. I just felt like a new model had to be brought forward. We couldn't just keep doing things the same. 

TT: For myself, COVID is just a matter of accessibility. Who's accessible to resources, who's accessible to information, who's accessible to folks who know how to mobilize, folks who don't want to put on a mask, don't know the importance of hygiene, or don't have the mental, emotional, social capacity to even care. So I believe that the Huma bird as the phoenix rose up out of those ashes, and we became all things to all people in our community, and some people that they can trust - take their babies for three or four hours and know they're in a safe space. So, I believe COVID played into that in those ways. We're accessible, we have resources and we care. That’s why our organization is called [Huma Cares].  So we care for ourselves. We care for each other. We care for our people. So COVID only just gave us the backdrop of the need and we just met the challenge or seeking to meet the challenge.

MJ: So I mean, our first curatorial show, I mean, the Uprisings really fueled everything. Describe the impacts of the Uprisings of 2020 on your work. Because our first show was about how there was an Uprising inside San Quentin, about how they were being treated. The first show that we did was about COVID inside prison. To highlight, to give a visual impact, to the human element [of] the things that were happening inside. So, one of the most powerful moments for me during the founding of Huma House was when I put Kenneth Webb's artwork on the wall. It was a picture of him reaching out for a key. Out of his cell, a key that was dangling on a string that was about to break, so he couldn't reach the key. This woman, a little woman from Beverly Hills, came into the gallery and saw that piece. She just started - she broke down crying in front of the piece. she said, she doesn’t have any context of prison. She doesn't really even think about it. It's not in her consciousness, but she saw this work and it moved her. And she said, how can I help? How can I be a part? I want to be part of this.That happened because of the energy - the energy that Kenneth put inside that work, not only the aesthetic of it, but spiritually. That artwork [was] a sacred object that was carried on the back of Tobias, after being incarcerated for 30 years. This artwork was carried on the back of Tobias. He brought it out, met me here in Leimert Park, and I was able to show it, and reach people from Beverly Hills and Baldwin Hills and Bel Air, [and] in different parts of the world. Because I really feel that even though we may be divided by class or money or these social constructs, there really is a yearning on both sides to really come together. So, that was this really exciting moment. And I know that that will happen again and again. And art has that power.

TT:  For me, my father was a Black revolutionist in the sixties. He rose me up in the seventies, named me Tobias, the liberator of my people. So, just me being here, coming out of mass incarceration, being called incorrigible. I didn't know what the word incorrigible meant. Cannot be cured. No human good. So the first platform that was uniquely mine, I've worked with so many people supporting their platforms and organizations, but, this [poem] is right here. So this is a team work. So that's revolutionary - that you threw me away as a youth, and said, “Die,” literally, in prison. So to be able to get out and be an entrepreneur at 50, 48, 52, that was revolutionary. So as for the movements that has taken place, in my youth I came from a response of anger. You know, pain don't feel good, vulnerability don't feel good, being beat down, spit on, treated like trash  everyday, don't feel good. Rage feels better. So now, at this point in my life, love feels better, resiliency feels better. Art feels better. Going to places where I got the key[s], that mean that we can really do something. Now, violence begetting violence. No one wins. We'll never win. We're actually playing into the traps. But when we can love people in very profound and deep levels, I think that's revolutionary in itself, and that's what Huma is about. So personally, thank you. As a revolutionary response, this what we do is revolutionary.

ar: Describe notable programs’ shifts in your work since 2020 that have been influenced by both the Uprisings and Covid-19. 

MJ: I mean the art shows that we were curating were about that - the first couple. I think the abolitionist pod that we did with you all. When you presented that idea to us we really wanted to be a part [of it], because at that time we were really focusing on gardening and how putting our hands in the earth is a revolutionary act, an act of abolition. That was, I think that was a good example.

TT: Then for the [abolitionist] pod to be on grounds that was this very jail, that I spent 18 months [in]. It was called the Insane Asylum. I'm not going to say the governor's name who did it, but he said we don't need mental institutions, just put them in prison. Those of us who've never had a physical fight in my life, never been arrested, never been a part of gang violence -  no shame or no smoke to nobody who has.  I’m just letting you know my experience, to be place in the jail and then to be able to be called to the same space, and to share love, to grow together. That was revolutionary in it’s own breath. nSo in one, you know our grant source right now. No, you should speak to that. That is a direct response to COVID, and to what was going on with the Uprising. So will you please speak to that?

MJ: Yeah. So, right now we're operating on a grant that's part of the Care First, Jails Last. It's the CFCI fund here in L.A. County where, because of 2020, because of the Uprisings, because of Black Lives Matter, L.A. County actually brought  money in or allocated funds. It's like 10% of all county funds have to go towards community organizations. So it's really special, because this fund was created, and we were able to get a  piece of this money and actually bring it back to the streets. So the youth that are in our program, we get to give them stipends, $50 per class to come. And so that is literally the money from the Uprisings, going to the top, and then actually coming back down into the streets. I think it's rare - it's exciting to be part of that. Where something in the government -  the thesis of the grant is actually happening on the ground.

MH: Describe your collaboration with the Crenshaw Dairy Mart abolitionist pod program.

MJ: I think the abolitionist pod was really an exciting thing for us. How Tobias said it was - They were going to build another jail there and then they built these transitional homes instead. I think one of the memorable parts for me was actually, we went to - Genea and I. Genea is part of the Huma house. She was doing a lot of the garden work and now she's going to be a teacher in our youth program. We were at an event there - I think it was with the Hammer [Museum]. The Hammer [Museum] had an event. Genea was just talking about her experience with Ashley [Blakeney], the executive director, and just before everyone was getting together. Then when everyone sat down, Patrisse was talking about Crenshaw Dairy Mart and what they did. There was a Q&A and it was kind of quiet for a second. Then Ashley was like, “I want to give the mic to Genea to talk about what she's doing in her work.” It was just a really special moment where Crenshaw Dairy Mart had the floor, and they passed the mic to Genea, who was just in the crowd. And Genea was able to tell her story, which she was - I let her tell her story when she's ready. Her getting out of prison and being able to be a woman, and an entrepreneur and stand on her own feet in her own right. That was really special. I thought it was really emblematic of our collaboration, because you guys [were] handing us the mic, allowing us to talk about our experience and how [we’re] working together. That was a special moment for me.

TT: The [abolitionist] pod, for me. For one, any time that I can work with ali [reza], this is my dude,  our communication is on a whole other plane. So that was beautiful. But, people say, “But people are just people, and people don't really understand.” People are literally people, and I always have a little fear in me. I’ve been in East LA with a group of 13 [to] 15 year old Hispanic kids - can I touch them. Where their Hispanic peers and elders, they looking around, talking on the phone, “Touch them.” I think it's rare - it's exciting to be part of that. So bringing us in that space, with those unique individuals who was transitioning, and for them to honor us every week, for them to hold hands with us, for them to pray with us, for them to go through what we were offering, and make it their own, that proves that love has the greatest capacity. It doesn't matter where I'm at in the world. And I've traveled the  world at this point. We can still touch people. And that's the whole thing. We’re people at the end of the day. So me and Meetra, Huma, we love the experience. We looked forward for it and nothing was going to keep us away from it because every single one of those men and women who came, they came because they wanted to. They came that they appreciated us and they knew that we appreciated them. That opportunity, I always  say, thank you. It only builds my own healing as a re-entry person, and my capacity to love and continue to love on this level. 

ar: What vision do you hold for the future of Huma House and this work organizations do across LA?

MJ: You know, Tobias and I, when we were having our meetings - it was like for a year…we were just meeting up in the park with Genea. We were really in that imaginary space, spiritually thinking about - without it being concretized into exactly how this is going to be built out. We were taking inspiration from different religions, different ideas, philosophies. We talked about Indra's web, which is coming from Indian Origin. Indra's Web is basically this web that covers the whole - it's like a spider web.And each little node that connects is its own flower of life. It’s a very complex structure. For me, what I loved about Indra's web and how I thought about it with Huma’s is using love in art as this overall web and connecting point. That Huma House is an opportunity to touch people like at the abolitionist pod, [or] through one of our shows. Those are just different nodes. And I want to really make it a global movement where these nodes are being touched down in all different peoples in the earth. Really the spirit of the Huma bird, the spirit of that love is kind of being channeled through the web.

TT: Thank you. Imagination. You know, that's pretty much all that you have left when you're locked in a cell for years at a time. That's how you free yourself. What do we imagine for Huma. First is to have space. Since the need is great, the space has to be great, and it has to be ours. We can't just constantly be head down beggin’. Not all of us have to live off of reparations. Some of us can repair [and] restore through other means. So Huma is not just me and Meetra. It's a collaborative of many organizations and families and people who hold us up. And so for all of those people to be able to be sustained in a way that they can scale [their] love and light, and Huma guiding the path towards that. Starting in Leimert [Park], spread throughout California and hit the neighboring states. Til we hit South Carolina and going up to Minnesota, jump on over to Canada - you feelin’ me? So that's the vibe. Because it's light, it’s love, it’s energy, it’s real, and it can inform. That's what it is. You know, we inherited this. We didn't make this up. We didn't make up the Huma bird. We didn't make up this ancestral love we [were] vibing off of. We just [were] bold enough to take it on. So with that being said, just paying direct attention and with deliberate in what we're doing here, and we know that there's greater forces than ourselves that's going to sustain it and scale it. So, it could be global like our sister said.

ar: Why the Huma bird?

MT: Well, the Huma bird really goes back to when I was a little girl looking at these carpets, because that bird was in the different motifs of the carpet. Unbeknownst to me, I didn't know it was the Huma bird at the time. But really, I was studying different parts of mythology, Persian mythology, to get in touch with my heritage, my ancestry and the Huma bird really showed itself through different poems and things that I like to read.  I was so inspired by it because the Huma bird erupts itself in fire every 800 years and is reborn from the ashes. It doesn't have feet so it never touches the ground because it's always in constant flight orbiting around the Earth to give presence and love to people who really need it, who are needed care. It was said that if you even just saw the shadow of the Huma bird, you would be blessed for life. That spirit was really lit up for me when I met people like Tobias, Kenneth, Christian Branscombe,  Buddha Genea, people who are coming out of incarcerated spaces. I was like, “Wow.” The ashes of their past to make new life. And even myself.  Tobias turned the mirror back on me and was like, “You too.” You too have traumas. You too have been  locked up in places. See how you're using the ashes of your past to reignite yourself into a beautiful bird and bestow  blessings in your own way. That I felt [was] this perfect symbol for us. Not only that, but there's a story about the Huma bird that - maybe you can tell that one. So to bring in the other birds.

TT: I left in 1991. My little brother Solomon. My little brother Solomon was as big as this cell phone. He was a preemie and I held him a week later. I was in prison for 30 years of my life. Point being - to channel love for my little bro-bro who grew up without me - him and Khalifa. Khalifa - you watching. You too. So I studied King Solomon. King Solomon - Mystic Solomon - The Prophet Solomon or Sulaiman and he had a bird called the Hudhud bird. And the Hudhud bird was like his main dude. The Hudhud bird in the mythology that the sisters speaking on, Meetra’s speaking on, it went to all the birds. It went to all the birds. This is the bees, this is the butterflies, it’s everybody with wings. All beings with wings. If you hear me - all beings are wings. And so we [are] going to go meet our leader. We [are] going to go meet our leader, right? We [are] going to meet our leader. So they all meet up and they traveling, right? So they go to this water mass. They go to this water mass, right? All of them. And I look in the water and you go see her. So all these beings with wings, they look into the water and their reflection turns into one. And that oneness was the Huma bird. So it's the connection of heart resonance. It’s the connection of neurological coherence. It’s a connection of becoming one ancestral and spiritual body. So that's what the Hudhud of King Solomon called. And so the Huma bird, she erected out that. It's us. It’s all of us. It's all of us, but it's them too. Those who want to be them is them too. It’s us. And so when the sister came, that was in my genes. I just knew what it was when she said, “We're Huma.” I'm co-founder, she already had it laid out. And that resonated with me because I understand the importance of the Hudhud calling. We're beings. We don't have to be on the Earth. We can fly. You know, we're spirit, we’re light, we're truth. We only need these little dusty bodies. For seconds. So that's what Huma is all to me about. Thank you for asking. Say her name. You know, it puts respect on her name. It says we love you, mama Huma. And mama Huma brought,

“Onica. You see this...” 

Her [Meetra’s] daughter, she's a product of the Huma experience. I have her look at me like, “You ain’t say my name?”

MJ: Yeah.

TT: So that's Huma.

Gallery Open

Thursdays - Sundays

11:30 AM - 3:30 PM

On view September 21, 2024 through February 15, 2025

Free the Land! Free the People! a study of the abolitionist pod is organized as a survey and studio of the Crenshaw Dairy Mart artist collective’s ongoing research for the abolitionist pod, autonomously irrigated, solar-powered gardens within modular geodesic domes built with communities impacted by food insecurity, housing insecurity, and the prison industrial complex. The exhibition falls in conjunction with the artist collective’s year of programmed study and research, entitled Imagination Year, collating ongoing illustrations, archival documentation, architectural renderings, sketches, and drawings of the collective’s many configurations of the geodesic structure during its prototype phases as the year-long curriculum engages with a history of collectives and cooperatives at the interstices of food justice, land sovereignty, and the Black Liberation Movement.

The exhibition coincides with a concurrent resource and larger oral history archive indexing the networked Black farmers, gardeners, and Black-led organizations across Los Angeles county with whom Crenshaw Dairy Mart has collaborated with on the abolitionist pod, traversing contemporary movements towards alternative permacultures, which include localized, small-scale farming and micro-farming as models for community care, community safety, and economic autonomy within the larger contemporary abolitionist movement.

Free the Land! Free the People! a study of the abolitionist pod is among more than 60 exhibitions and programs presented as part of PST ART. Returning in September 2024 with its latest edition, PST ART: Art & Science Collide, this landmark regional event explores the intersections of art and science, both past and present. PST ART is presented by Getty. For more information about PST ART: Art & Science Collide, please visit pst.art