City on a Hill by Njaimeh Njie

Issue 146

In March of 2020, I was in the middle of a studio residency program. Covid-19 was beginning to quickly spread in the States, and it was announced that our studio spaces would be closing up. I grabbed a bunch of magazines, old work prints, my cutting board, and X-Acto knives to take home before things shut down. It was months before I made it back to the studio again.

I sat alone in my apartment during quarantine, trying to get a grasp on what was happening in the world. As a photographer and filmmaker my practice is rooted in documentary storytelling, but at that point I couldn’t go out to make work. I looked at the materials I’d brought home from the studio. I felt that making something was the best thing I could do to make it through.

I created a series of digital collages called City on a Hill. The scenes work together to stage the experience of moving through an imagined American city. There’s inequality, greed, and destruction on display, which connect to the legacy of racism, capitalism, and individualism at this country’s core.

Still, I felt like there was something more to explore. As a Black woman, I watched Black communities be disproportionately ravaged by the pandemic. I wanted to place Black people in scenes of agency, optimism, care, joy, and rest. That was, and is my way of imagining what freedom looks like beyond the most challenging of times.

Njaimeh Njie (she/her) currently lives and works in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States.

www.njaimehnjie.com