We are creating and clearing pathways to freedom & joy via art, cultural programming and Black creative expression.

SaltWater Sojourn was first birthed in 2019 by Waterbearers Mariah M. and Destiny Hemphill, where they joined Toshi Reagon at NorthStar Church of the Arts in Durham, North Carolina, for the first installment of Meet Me At the Crossroads. In November 2021, we were reinvited to join Toshi Reagon alongside Ganessa James and Shirazette Tinnin for 3-day portal, Meet Me at the Crossroads II, for Gen1 of SatlWater Sojourn’s installment entitled Water is The Original Mirror. We invited attendees to participate or simply soak in a collective sonic meditation through song, poetry, and somatics.

As Gen2 of SaltWater Sojourn, we meditated on what we needed for our selves, and what we could offer to community and conjured Revival of the Seers, a restorative retreat for Black queer creatives & cultural workers distinctly held during Black August.

Meet the Creatives of the 2023 & 2022 ROS cohorts here!

We also presented our inaugural vernal program & portal, High Tide, to accompany the observation of Black August, and support the creatives & cultural workers that we have connected with as a collective forming the SaltWater ecosystem.

We are currently in our third iteration, Gen3, of SaltWater Sojourn, with new Waterbearers, new portals and old ways to alchemize on behalf of our community and for our collective liberation. This sojourn, like all those we venture on, will serve as an estuary for individual and collective Black radical imagining, healing, joy, growth, and art.

We hope you can join us.

Click the labyrinth below to meet Waterbearers, past and present

Keep up with us via this website, our Instagram page!