WHAT IS OPH
Our Political Home (OPH) connects traditions of African storytelling to Black, diasporic, Trans and Queer communities in NYC and beyond.
OPH is a portal to incubate, house and amplify Black art created by, with and for trans and queer practitioners across the African diasporas. Through embodied storytelling we retrace our experiences and return to that home within us.
Born from the deserts of Oumdurman, Sudan, Marwa recognizes the power of story-sharing to bequeath ancestral knowledge and technologies.
As a writer and cultural producer, she explores narratives of movement, identity, embodiment and belonging across Black diasporic portals. Through a Black, queer, feminist framework she examines intersections of power within our cultural praxes.
Marwa Eltahir
WHO WE ARE
FOUNDER
Ola Idris Ali
COMMUNITY MANAGER
Ola defines herself first and foremost as a curious spirit, studying at the school of life. She is a storyteller, a friend and a seeker of God.
Being a part of OPH gives her the space to dream and reimagine how our stories' have been told for centuries and the chance to re-write our realities to serve the beauty of love.
THEORY OF CHANGE
Mission
Vision
Our Political Home dreams of an interconnected, Black Trans and Queer diaspora that transmutes and releases colonial narratives. Using storytelling as a liberatory practice, we carve space to express radical Black imaginations.
Our Political Home incubates the art of Trans and Queer, African storytellers across global diasporic portals to facilitate healing through storytelling.
Our Values
Collective Care
We are one. Our individual liberation is interdependent on our collective liberation.
Embodied Liberation
Freedom lives in the body. We are our most authentic selves when we can be present in our bodies and make embodied decisions.
Memory & Imagination
Our story starts with our legacy. We are informed by the stories of our indigenous lineages.
Sacred Land
The land we are born from and the land we occupy guides our story. Connection to land is the genesis to understanding of self and place.
Self-Determination
Our dignity is inherent. We are the creators of our reality and we have the power to imagine a new paradigm.
SYLLABUS
This syllabus is designed to initiate and inspire the building of new paradigms. We believe that co-creating imaginative futures is an act of “homecoming” that begins within the Self, grows outward to community, and becomes a collective process of world design.
We are inspired by abolitionist movements, queer studies, feminist theory, and decolonial praxis. We have learned from public intellectuals, activists, artists, and spiritual leaders. You will find just some of these inspirations in the form of books, articles, essays, multimedia, films, poetry, fiction, creative nonfiction, and works of spiritual wisdom.
We recognize that our most authentic selves live inside our bodies, minds, and souls. Here there are resources for self reflection, awareness, and embodiment. We invite you to learn about yourself, your needs, and your desires.
We believe that community, connection, and care are essential to building a sustainable and intentional new world. Our individual liberation is strengthened and determined by our ability to lean into mutual and interdependent communities of care.
Crafting new paradigms will require an informed understanding of indigenous knowledge, access to ancestral wisdom, and deep connection to the land. We intend for this syllabus to serve as the genesis for renewed commitments to placemaking, legacy building, and imaginative, creative futures grounded in sacred notions of home.
COMMUNITY
Submit your work here for a chance to become a featured Homie of the Week*!
*OPH prioritizes the privacy and confidentiality of its community. Not all artists featured identify as queer or belong to the LGBTQ community. We do not tolerate harassment or discrimination of any kind.
OPH INC. is made possible by the generosity of our funders: The LGBTQ Community Center of NY, The Laundromat Project, and We Are Family Foundation.
Connect with us
“The vibe felt so warm and inviting,
I can’t wait for the next gathering!”
“I felt like I could have real
conversations with real people.”
