Johnaé Strong

Johnaé Strong is a writer, filmmaker, and organizer from Cleveland based in Chicago. She is a commitment to healing Black girls all over the world. Johnaé’s work is heavily influenced by her time as co-founder and leader of BYP100 Chicago (2013-2017) and as a mother to Akeim and Jari @2chikids. Jari is Johnaé’s daughter with beloved organizer and artist Malik Alim who spearheaded ending cash bail in Illinois before his tragic passing in 2021. Johnaé enjoys experimenting with materiality and time--interweaving film and digital to unearth archival moments. Her work projects symbols quickly decoded by Black folks and asserted for non-Black audiences. Playing with black and white, color, and movement, she animates freedom dreams. As the quilted symbols of enslaved Africans were a map toward liberation, Johnaé's work is a codex for collective freedom. Her writing has been cited in publications including In These Times, The Nation, and Abolition Feminisms Volume 2. (Haymarket Press). Johnaé is an alumni Artist in Residence at the School of Art Institute of Chicago.