S2E2: Queer Black Joy with SOL Revival

Welcome back to the Queer Circle, where Queer Healers come to the mic to share their journeys and what they’d tell their younger selves. Today’s guest is a collective, SOL (Sustaining Ourselves Locally) Revival in Oakland, CA/Occupied Ohlone lands, composed of members Laya BOMBSNAXX (they/them), Hannah Mayree (she/her) and Avé-Ameenah Long (she/her). SOL is a newly formed collective of Black healers, artists, farmers, organizers and dreamers prioritizing Black Existence and Joy and reimagining the non-profit and community building formerly known as Oakland SOL. Soon, SOL Revival programming will include: community garden work day, art+music studio rental and youth internships. Contact them via email: [email protected], Follow them on Instagram: @oakland_sol_revival or visit QueerCirclePodcast.com to learn how to donate to the non-profit.

SOL REVIVAL MEMBER BIOS:

Laya (They/Them)
BOMBSNAXX; a musical project created by Laya Wig that promotes Black Femme liberation, DIY skill acquisition, and empowerment through collaboration. Through this journey of self-teaching, Laya seeks to establish a production style informed by the Black diaspora and inspired by the ingenuity and innovation of Black and Indigenous peoples. Instagram: @bombsnaxx

Hannah Mayree (She/Her)
Hannah Mayree is a creative facilitator and musician who’s work and art lends itself as a tool for redesigning and reconnecting to our roots as humans on this planet. A banjoist, multi-instrumentalist and vocalist, Hannah shares harmonies through acoustic live vocal looping and reminds us of the empowerment found in our relationship to the earth, music and community. She is the co-founder and a director of the Black Banjo Reclamation Project. The Black Banjo Reclamation Project is a cultural and land- based revival project that centers the Black community by reclaiming ancestral wisdom and moving forward with innovations through perspectives of Afro-futurism. Through our extensive network across the country, our work promotes conversation and action in healing the ancestral, historical, cultural and racially dividing wounds in this country and the world. Instagram: @hannah_mayree and @black.banjo.reclamation

Avé-Ameenah (She/Her)
Multidisciplinary artist Avé-Ameenah Long uses her art as a way to inspire Black people, across the diaspora. Centering photography and cinematography, Avé-Ameenah prioritizes these skills to document not only her local Black community, but also to engage with Black folks in her travels around the world. The creator of the Keep it Diasporic project, her first photographic journey brought her to the African rooted city of Cartagena, Colombia and the island of Bastimentos, Panamá. There, she was influenced to document her experience and return the knowledge she gained, back to her hometown community of Oakland. Avé-Ameenah hopes that her continued art practices can excite Black people everywhere to creatively explore their identity and bring better awareness to our collective ancestral journey. Instagram: @keep_it_diasporic.

Music by Bombsnaxx (Bandcamp // or all the streaming platforms)

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