Jessi Ujazi

Jessi Ujazi, formerly known as Jessi Jumanji, is a collage artist and painter from Memphis, TN, currently based in Los Angeles, CA. Raised in the city where Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated, with familial roots in Greenwood, MS, the cotton capital of the world, Jessi Ujazi’s artistry lends a contemplative perspective of the black experience, born of Africa via the Deep South. With a proverbial fervor for history, nature, and the otherworldly, she creates distinct works that illustrate the black experience beyond the limits of space and time.

Jessi Ujazi’s artwork speaks to the complexities of African identity and the immeasurable contributions and cultural impact of the African diaspora on all civilizations throughout time. Through her artistry, she aims to reconcile years of underrepresentation and erasure of African history and influence on a global scale. Jessi Ujazi’s art inspirits the essence of Africa from antiquity to infinity, illustrating the Motherland, reconciled with her past and optimistic for the future.

Jessi Ujazi utilizes her disciplines of artist, archivist, and historian interchangeably, often finding inspiration for her paintings and collages from historically significant archives and images in the public domain. Her creative process often consists of using various digital and manual collage methods to deconstruct, reimagine, and recontextualize media to create new works.