Seyi Adebanjo: Filmmaker/Activist

Episode Description:

Seyi Adebanjo, MFA, is a Queer Gender-Non-Conforming Nigerian artist who raises awareness around social issues through video. Seyi’s work exists at the intersection of art, imagination, ritual and politics. Their award winning documentaries “Justice for Islan Nettles” has screened on PBS Channel 13, and “Ọya: Something Happened On The Way To West Africa” continues to screen globally.

Seyi’s latest project is Afromystic - a lyrical documentary guided by four LGBTQ Yorùbá practitioners across the waters of Nigeria, the US, and Brazil reclaiming lost mythologies such as deities who change gender and are born from the love of two womxn. Afromystic weaves animated Queer & Trans Òrìṣà mythology, poetry, theater and ritual to celebrate the lives of these practitioners. 

TRANSCRIPT:

Fanshen: [00:00:00] Sisters and siblings, welcome back to Sista Brunch, the podcast that celebrates Black women and gender expansive people thriving in entertainment and media. This is our fifth season of Sista Brunch. So if you're just learning about us, you can see all of our previous episodes listed on Apple or Spotify podcasts or wherever you listen to your podcasts.

And you can also head to our website, sisterbrunch. com. You can read the transcripts from all of our shows and sign up for our newsletter there. We have another wonderful guest today. We will get to hear their storytelling journey and hear their advice. advice to their younger selves, plus whatever may come up in our conversation as always.

So with that, I am so happy to welcome Shea Adebanjo to Sister Brunch. Welcome Shea. Peace.

Seyi: Thank you so much for having me here. I'm honored you reached out.

Fanshen: Absolutely. I'm so glad to have found you. Our work is so aligned. Your work is very aligned with Sister [00:01:00] Brunch and also all that I do in my productions.

So the way we'd love to start our podcast is to ask our guests to share their journey of whatever brought them here today. So you can go as far back to the ancestors as far back as you'd like to tell us what that path about that path that brought you to being here today.

Seyi: So the path that brought me here today is it was divinely sanctioned.

I'll say it like that, right? Because I'm Yoba by birth and calling. And so my peoples and myself are from Nigeria. Yes, I have a New York accent that happens. So it's like, I have a hybrid identity. I was born in Nigeria and then I got brought to New York. And so I think there's always that place of in between that exists for me, not only as my identity in terms of like where I'm from, where I was raised, where I was born and all those things that overlap.

but also my identity as somebody who's queer and gender diverse. And so there's like that [00:02:00] continuation of the space of the in between that happens in my life. And sometimes it's an easy place to be. And other times it's not in this binary world, as you can imagine. And so that was part of my journey. And in thinking about in terms of filmmaking, I've always been an activist.

Like even my mom was like back in Nigeria, I would be advocating for things. And I'm like, okay, I don't remember, but thank you for telling me. And so that's just been my spirit of birth and calling. And I actually went to the university of Minnesota. Right. It's a little black body in Minnesota. You can imagine that, right?

Okay.

And so, I know. It's been a journey.

Fanshen: So were you out by the time you went there? And actually, if you don't mind because we talk about the podcast being for black women and gender expansive people and I feel like when we say that Say that some folks just turn off their ears when we say the gender expansive part.

Do you mind including that in part of [00:03:00] your journey if it happened prior to you going to the University of Minnesota and did it have any connections to you as a filmmaker, you as an artist?

Seyi: There's a little bit of both. I share some. Okay. And whatnot, I was out in New York, out to some folks, but not out publicly.

Cause you know, you're 18 years old, you still feeling yourself out, no finding the language, but I've always knew that I was queer and gender expansive. It just was finding the language and being able to be in it. And also I have immigrant parents. So there's that dichotomy. Yes. So many, so many. And then Nigerian.

So like, you have to take those things into consideration. And so when I went to the university of Minnesota, I actually was working at a queer youth center in Minneapolis. And so that was a beautiful space that can just birth me like fully coming out. I ended up on the cover of the Lavender Magazine.

Yeah. So that was fun. And then it caused, uh, I don't know if I could curse, but it [00:04:00] caused some problems in my family. Because then it was like. It's public, and so my mom is, what are they gonna say? You know what I mean? And it didn't help that they had me on the cover, hugged up on a person of whiteness.

That's just it. I didn't know that's what they were gonna use as the picture. Yeah, now, you got lots of planning to do now, right? You know what I'm saying? I'm like 18, 19. And so that was the story. space where I like fully came out just in terms of naming my identities and still finding the language in terms of the gender fluidity.

But for sure I knew I was queer. I've always been queer. And then that brings me to like how I got into filmmaking. Christine Sorenson has A nonprofit that does media making in Minneapolis and St. Paul. And so she came to District 202 to teach the young folks how to do filmmaking. And at that time I was also doing HIV AIDS education.

And so being able to like make documentaries and learn from her and mind you, this was back in the [00:05:00] day where like your beginning was the beginning. Not like this non linear editing we can do if you wanted to change the middle. Yeah. Or the beginning after you got to the middle, that was a whole nother conversation.

So I'm just dating myself, which is okay.

You know what I mean? And so like that just really got me, I'll say it hooked and got me excited. About documentary filmmaking, because for me, it was a way that I can reach an audience. I can reach people who were activists and maybe they couldn't get to the protest or be in the front lines. Right. And there was this way that this story, this sacred storytelling, this organizing, this spirituality can touch people, whether it was from the comfort of their home, a film festival or a classroom that they can be like, Oh, there's different ways that I can be in my activism.

Um, that doesn't only have to look one way. And so that was really the start of how I got into documentary filmmaking.

Fanshen: Okay, okay. And I [00:06:00] know you've got a project called honor black trans women. You've got I am we are here talking about LGBTQ people in people of color in the Bronx, which I love. I taught in the South Bronx for a little while.

Yes, yes. Can you talk about those two projects? And so did those come out of you learning from that documentary film program?

Seyi: I will say so, and then a little differently because I did that in Minnesota and then I went back to New York to really look at building my career as a filmmaker, ended up in an MFA program and now I had to do other things to pay the bills as you know, and so I couldn't do filmmaking the way that I wanted to, and so after running a nonprofit also in the South Bronx and looking at, okay, how can I get back to, you know, Making sure activism is at the front of what I do.

And so I was like, let me make sure I be active as a filmmaker again and use that as a tool. And so when I did, I am. I really wanted people to [00:07:00] know that there are people who are thriving, who are their full selves, who are having joy. Yes, there's white supremacy, there's homophobia, there's transphobia and patriarchy, right?

All those things exist. However, that is not the sum of our identity. And with I Am, I wanted people to see people being like happy and talking about what joy looks like. And so I filmed that as part of Bronx Pride. I know I needed it and other people needed it because it was just constant death that we were hearing.

And then it was also a different way of me making films because I was using photography and it became multimedia, right? And then really started getting into more of the liberal style of how I just create my work. And then it was a couple years later that I did on a black trans remix. Unfortunately, there was another murder that took place in New York and it was having a vigil to look at like, how do we honor people and what would it look like if we honored black trans folks, right?

And instead of like the violence that [00:08:00] happens to us, let's honor people and put them at the center and look at ritual because ritual is also part of our organizing. And so that's where that documentary came out of. 2019 I think.

Fanshen: Beautiful. And then, of course, you started to get more recognition from your work.

I'd love for you to talk about what you developed as part of Sundance and then what you're working on now. You sent me a lovely clip from AfroMystic, the current project you're working on. I feel like sometimes when Talk to gender expansive people, our guests on the show, on one hand, it feels like they're blooming possibilities.

There's more and more acceptance and visibility. And at the same time, we've been here. AfroMystic really is touching on that, right? There's a whole long, long history.

Seyi: With Sundance, the Transpossibility Fellowship, it was an opportunity for me to continue to work on AfroMystic because it's been a work in progress.

And what was [00:09:00] great is that they really had us with some industry folks who were either trans masculine folks, trans women. Or gender expansive folks and had us come together as a group to talk about our work and to talk about that space of like authenticity and accountability when we're making these works, especially as folks are gender diverse folks, right?

And it was also an opportunity to hear some of the challenges that people go through, but how they've been able to find solutions. And so I found that it was really a nurturing space. space and it was important, you know what I mean? Because what I had been experiencing is that with Afro Mystic, which is basically queer and trans and racial storytelling in the United States, in Nigeria and Brazil.

And it's my first feature length film and it's lyrical. It has animation in it. And I just was experiencing a lot of notes and the opportunity with Sundance to be part of that fellowship helped for us to have those conversations of how do we just continue to have [00:10:00] confidence in ourselves. And to do this work, that's so much needed, you know what I mean?

And so that's the things that I've been like workshopping and continuing to build off. And also really, if I step back, the core of my work is really about community making and upholding community and really looking at like how there's like space for us. And as part of the work that I do, especially with AfroMystic is that it's telling this very African story, this very Black story, this very Brown story, right, from people who are of these spiritualities and who are queer, who are trans, who are gender diverse, and also having me as a director tell that story, right?

Because even though there's been more opportunities for there to be trans directors or gender expansive folks, we still continue to see a lot of people of whiteness leading that charge.

Fanshen: Absolutely. Getting the resources, leading the charge, all of that. Yes.

Seyi: You know what I mean? And so we talked through some of that at the trans [00:11:00] fellowship and also as I looked at how I'm just making sure that I continue to do this work because for me, I was like, it's important for this to this work to happen regardless of the recognition.

You know what I mean? And that's where I come back to community. That's us. That's us.

Fanshen: Five seasons in and we just call ourselves the little podcast that could, absolutely. Because yeah, you keep doing the work no matter what, because community matters and because they haven't recognized the value, the gatekeepers, because this is not their experience, or at least they have not been able to recognize it as part of their experience.

Right? Hey.

Seyi: Peace. This is Seyi Adebanjo and you're listening to Sista Brunch.

Fanshen: You're listening to Sista Brunch, the podcast by and about Black women and gender expansive people thriving in entertainment and media. We'll be right back with more of our conversation with queer [00:12:00] gender nonconforming Nigerian artist Seyi Adebanjo.

We're back and we're so excited to share more of our conversation with Seyi. Spirituality is such a big part of your work. Can you talk about why that is, how it drives you, and even define some of the spirituality for us that is specific to your work?

Seyi: At the core of what I've always been doing is building spirituality and social justice.

Maybe saying it's a reclamation comes to mind, right? Because if we think about our indigenous cultures from wherever we are in the world that we're indigenous to, we've always had spirituality and it's always been a practice to organize and create our communities, right? It's like really like that Western lens that has to separate the two that you can't be an organizer and spiritual at the same time, right?

You think about the Haitian rebellion, right? They had a ritual and they had been organizing through rituals to be able to do that. [00:13:00] You know what I mean? And it's just been at the heart of what I do because that's just how we are as human beings. And especially with AfroMystic, I wanted to To remind people and to also flip the conversation that as people who are African or who are traditionalist from West Africa, right, or West African, you're about spirituality, my practice, that there's always been space for us within Orisha culture or Ishesha as some people

Fanshen: Will you describe that a little bit more?

What is Orisha culture and Yoruba also?

Seyi: I can do that. So, Yoruba culture is three things. A language, it's an ethnic group, and it's a spiritual practice. So, it's those things simultaneously.

Fanshen: Like being gender expansive. Like being Nigerian and black and in the Bronx and in Minnesota. Yes.

Seyi: You know what I'm saying, right?

Fanshen: All these things simultaneously. Yes.

Seyi: Right. And that's really important because you can't take the spirituality out of the culture. Some people have different words [00:14:00] for it in terms of being like you're a traditionalist coming out of Nigeria or Yoruba land, which is in the Southwest of Nigeria on the West coast of the African continent.

Some people say West African or Yoruba practice, right? Or Yoruba spirituality is another way of saying it. Or another way of saying it is that it's isheshe. Which is like part of a cultural, spiritual, or religious community. And those identities specifically come out of West Africa or Nigeria, particularly.

And then you look at how Orisha expanded because of the transatlantic slave trade. And so you have Condomble in Brazil, which I got to this year. I can talk more about that in a second. So it translated that way. And you also have West African Orisha practitioners in Bahia, Brazil too. Right. Right. Right.

Do you know what I mean? Yes. So that was exciting because you have those things that exist at the same time in Brazil. [00:15:00] Right. And then I've also been interviewing some folks who come out of Cuba and in Cuba, you have the syncretism of West African Orisha practice with Catholicism and it's called Lukumi.

And so that comes out of Cuba. There's a lot of practitioners in the U. S. who practice Lukumi, so that's like a basic of like when I talk about Yoruba spirituality. or Lukumi or Candomble. Those are the three parts of the continents that I'm looking at.

Fanshen: Okay. So what are you finding as you're developing Afro Mystic and focusing on Brazil and also Cuba?

Seyi: At the root of Afro Mystic is really from Flipping that dialogue on that script that there is in places for people of the African descent practicing these African technologies, having people who look like me be on camera and talk about how faith leads them right in the leadership and who they are as a queer or trans or gender expansive [00:16:00] person.

And so those have been important things to capture, to really have a different conversation than what we see mainstream media saying, you know what I mean? And so when we went to Brazil, which has been like a, I don't want to say a lifelong, but it's been like many moons coming or being excited and wanting to get to Bahia for many reasons, not just the culture, the food, and also thinking it has the largest descendants of Yoruba people outside of Yoruba are in.

Fanshen: And specifically in Bahia, right?

Seyi: Yeah. So you have this very African culture that's not just like Yoruba folks, but other African identities there. And so it was really important to get there. And so when we got there, we were able to see people who did practice traditional Yoruba spirituality there. So that was beautiful to see.

And then we also interviewed folks in Condomblee and specifically the Condomblee that's mixed with some indigenous [00:17:00] practices and also mixed with some West African practice. Right. I learned like there's three different types of Condomblee, Condomblee from the Congo, Djedji, And there's Angola, you know what I mean?

And so I'm learning all these things through research. And it's just was really wonderful to see how people were able to talk about who they are in their practice and how their contemplate temples know who they are. Right. Whether they will use the word queer or trans or gender expansive all the time, they show up in their full self.

And their houses support that. So we were able to document some of that. And then we were also able to document some people who like some of these homes, all these houses, these temples and by ear, not that they are necessarily discriminating, they just haven't had public statements. Same way they stand when it comes to like queer and gender expansive folks and people really pushing back to say, [00:18:00] what's happening, right?

Are you for us in some of these temples or do we have to start our own? And so you see some of the old school temples having to figure out how they're going to make public statements, even though they're already doing the work. And so there's that mix of that, right? And also there's the mix of the temples who like.

You're gay, you're queer, get out of here, right? That also exists. I'm not saying it's perfect. So you have all these things happening. We were able to like, see that in different parts of Bahia and capture that. And then what was really exciting as we got to Brazil is that it was the hundred year anniversary of the Iyamaja festival, right?

What's that? Listen, so she's beautiful, right? So it's, it. So there's like very many complications. So that's why I go, ah, because Yamaja in Nigeria or Yoruba land is a river deity. And so when she went over to Brazil, in some [00:19:00] parts, she became the ocean. And there's different stories on how she became the ocean.

Fanshen: And is Yamaga part of Yoruba or part of Candomblé or all of the above or a separate deity?

Seyi: All of the above. But then that's where it becomes the complexity of there still is in Bayeux. People honor her as the river.

Fanshen: Hey family, it's Fanchon and you're listening to Sister Brunch. We'll be right back. And during this quick break, if you haven't done this already, you know the drill, you know what I'm gonna ask you to go ahead and head over to Instagram and follow us there at Sister Brunch podcast.

Seyi: Because in Yoruba land, she's the river deity. Okay. However, at the hundredth anniversary of the Iyam Oja festival, she's celebrated as the ocean also. Right. And so both rituals happen simultaneously.

Fanshen: You stop it with all of these. You keep forcing all of us to be like, it's multi layered, it's [00:20:00] multi layered.

It is not binary. It is not. So. singular. It is not essentialist. All of this is ourselves. Our beings are multi layered and we need liberatory practices so that all of us can live all of these multi layers. There's no reason why we should try to put a barrier up for somebody else to live those layers.

And by not doing that, we get to live our own, all our own.

Seyi: Which is what it's about, right? As we liberate ourselves and others, the whole world becomes liberated.

Fanshen: Seyi, what is your approach to the barriers? Especially, and I'm asking on a personal level too, because this work is hard. Trying to get funding, trying to get support, feeling like we have to even justify our existence.

And then to do that, In film and television, because to your point, so we make it accessible so that young people especially can see it and go, Oh, [00:21:00] oh, that is me. I get to live liberatory life already because this person doing that. Right. How do you stay spiritual and loving and grounded when sometimes you want to cuss people out?

At least I do sometimes.

Seyi: It's both ends, right? Because I am also a human being. Like, I'm a special person and I'm a human being. And so lots of it is like many moments of having to breathe. Because people are bringing in their perspective of their worldview or their homophobia and violence. And then there's other times when maybe I'll educate, but not to everyone.

And for me to really stay grounded, part of it is making sure I'm doing my spiritual practices. You know what I mean? Which, I'm human, so I fall out of tune. And then the other part is just making sure I stay connected to the people that love me. And being really intentional that [00:22:00] I have a specific set of people.

There's three of them that I know are like my best friends that I reach out to. And that helps me because it is really challenging or isolating. And then also knowing that the work that I do is important and that it has to get done. And I'll give you this example of like my, again, I'm in Brazil, never been to this country ever in my life.

We're at this festival, the Yamaja festival. Hundreds of thousands of people are there. And out of nowhere, this person is, Hey, I know you. And I'm like, maybe you saw me on YouTube. I don't know. I'm not my lavender magazine cover from back in the day. And so then they're like, Oh, you did a film about Nigeria and your grandmothers and I was like, Oh, my great grandmother.

Cause I had done another documentary. Which is at the foundation of this queer and Orisha storytelling called, Oh, yeah, something happened on the way to West Africa, [00:23:00] document going back home. To my great grandmother and the practice and being queer and gender expansive and that has gotten all over the place, right?

And it got to this person who lived in Germany and was part of a screening committee to bring my film to Germany. Right? So that the black and queer and trans folks could see it. Yes.

Fanshen: Yes.

Seyi: right? So that's one of the ways where it helps me not stay minded,

Fanshen: that could minded could give that to you for a good year.

When that kind of thing happens, you're like, you know what? You can live off of that kind of energy and experience and acknowledgement of the importance of your work. Ultimately, I, that is the thing that keeps us going. Absolutely. Because that is why we're doing the work, as you said. Oh my goodness. I'm so glad to know you.

Okay, we glad to know you too. We're going to get to our signature sister brunch questions, which is that you and young Shay are sitting [00:24:00] down for a sister brunch or a sibling brunch. And we want to know what are you both eating? What are you both drinking? And what do you tell them?

Seyi: Me and little Seyi, we are eating pounded jam.

Right. We're eating some EFA Viva, right? There's some goat there and some plantains. So that's what we're eating. Why we're eating Yoruba food. And, and I think we're just like sitting at a table. And so what my adult Che'ii is saying to my younger Che'ii or my inner child is to remember to believe in myself.

Remember to believe in you. And to keep going, because there will be many people who want to invalidate you. There will be a violence that happens in this world and to you. And those things will want to say that you don't have the right to believe in [00:25:00] yourself and be. And I'm here to tell you little Shayi, believe in yourself and keep going.

You're going to have so many successes that are unexpected, right? Keep going, keep going, keep going, because it's about community. It's about you. Keep going. That's what I have to tell to, to little Shea, and also to enjoy this food and eat all the time. Even when you're stressed, eat that pounded jack.

Fanshen: Cause you're not going to be able to find that in a lot of places where you go in the world. So eat it while it's in front of you too. We wish you nothing but abundance and we'll make sure we continue to support your work. It's so important.

Seyi: so much.

Fanshen: Oh my goodness, you all I love doing these so much.

What an absolute privilege to get to speak to and learn from our amazing guests. I know you are as impressed with them and inspired by them as I am. Please be sure to find them on their head over to our [00:26:00] Instagram and find them there. We'll also be highlighting them in our newsletters weekly during the regular season and monthly during our hiatus.

Please follow them and support their work. And if you reach out to them, which you should as well, let them know that you heard this conversation with them on Sister Brunch. A reminder that you can read the transcript of every single episode and sign up for our newsletter on our website, sisterbrunch.

com. to brunch. com. If you want to see our faces, you can watch the full videos on the true Jello YouTube channel, youtube. com slash true Jello media, T R U J U L O media. And we are really truly so grateful for your support by subscribing to our podcast, leaving us a great review, sharing it with your friends, family, colleagues, community.

We appreciate you so much. Season 5 of Sister Brunch is brought to you by Trujillo [00:27:00] Productions. Our show creators are me, Fanshen Cox, Anya Adams, Christabel Nsiawadi, and Brittany Turner. Sister Brunch is a women make movies production assistance program. Program Project. We acknowledge that the land we record our podcast on is the original land of the Tongva and the Chumash people.

That's for me, Fanshen in Los Angeles. We cannot wait to see you next time. Take care, everybody.