The Black Joy Project
— Nix Thérèse
In trying to break the bad habit of letting social media ruin my day before it’s even started, I now choose Instagram over Twitter as my first look, and the Black Joy Project has some of the best curation I’ve seen across the app. Each portrait gives us an intimate encounter with black joy along with a definition from each participant. This often sparks me to consider what in my surroundings offers joy, what brings me more fully home to myself.
Adilah Muhammad mentions that we’re born with black joy and it is “something that lives beyond us.” I recognize that for me, true joy usually comes from being in community. It’s that strong connection where you feel completely seen and held in a moment, unbothered by how time is moving or the world outside is shifting. In fact, no one could tell you or your kin that y’all weren’t the cosmos crystallized to the perfect size. These spiritual collisions not only shift perspectives, but give a vibrancy that trails you and spills over into anything you touch. When I remember that black joy is an active response to all that seeks to dismantle, harm, or erase our existence, the idea of asking for permission becomes laughable. Rather, fully experiencing and documenting these moments where we feel full is necessary; it makes us believe that this joy is not only possible, but can keep coming.
My current fave portrait has a uniting thread of red across the rose in the hair, nail polish, and the mesh that sits on collarbones easily draws the eye across the body—head to lips to chin to neck to chest. The gold also spans finger to finger, then down the arm. Color tricks our eyes to sense fluidity and movement, even in a portrait that remains still. Every fabric, metal, and petal here feels consciously chosen. The sheen across skin, hair, and metal, along with the pop of color, gives this a luxuriousness that you just want to feel. In a world of quick first impressions, there’s a particular joy in being able to control how others take you in, in balancing colors and fabrics to highlight assets instead of hiding them. I feel this across all the portraits: there’s a real focus on the smiling, smirking, or otherwise engaged black people more than anything.
This project always leaves me with one main idea: when we validate and actively seek out joy (not just for ourselves in the short-term, but for our communities at large across time), we have the power to lead & create fuller emotional lives. Every moment of joy causes an echo, waiting to be answered & continued. How will you heed the call?