Join us for “An Exquisite Texture of Light,” an intimate artist talk featuring UK-based visionary Ajamu X, a pioneer in genderqueer photography who celebrates Black queer bodies and the power of pleasure as activism.

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.

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 dedicated to supporting artists of color in Pittsburgh and beyond. Scheduled for April 2, 2025, at 5 PM, this discussion will provide an in-depth exploration of Ajamu X’s decades-long career documenting and celebrating Black queer communities around the world. Marques Redd and Mikael Owunna will lead a dynamic conversation on sensuality and desire as a creative practice, exploring how pleasure itself can be a radical act.

“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.”

Don’t miss this powerful dialogue on art, identity, and liberation!

📍 ALMA | LEWIS — 6901 Lynn Way, Pittsburgh, PA, 15208
📅 April 2, 2025, 5-7PM