Birthed from the soil/Iyana Esters in Front Door Gallery

The Front Door Gallery is proud to showcase new work from artist Iyana Esters from October 23, 2023 - January 1, 2024.

Birthed from the soil is a new project by artist Iyana Esters. The exhibition presents a multidimensional portrait of Yawah Awolowo, known as Mama Yawah, an organic farmer, natural food chef, and midwife from Cuba, Alabama. This exhibition highlights the functionality of Mama Yawah’s life, demonstrating the beauty of ancestral knowledge of caring and working with the earth for generations, while living and tending to the community.

Iyana Esters combines art with her background in herbalism and environmental health, using photography as a lens of storytelling to capture human’s connection with nature. Esters experiments with a multitude of photographic processes including natural plant materials, herb dye, anthotype photography and archival photo mural projects, with an emphasis on highlighting stories about gender, sexuality, and ancestry in the Black and Afrodiaspora.