Jazsalyn’s A(spora): On the Gullah Geechee Corridor

Installation View

Jazsalyn’s A(spora): On the Gullah Geechee Corridor

Rendering microscopic imagery of indigenous African plant species through digital technologies, Jazsalyn links histories and futures of her own diasporic heritage. Her projecct A(spora) is on view at the historical John Chavis Community Center in Raleigh, North Carolina through January 2026, and is supported by SEEK Raleigh, a program of Raleigh Arts.

3. September 2025

Installation View

“My mother was born to the daughter of my great-grandfather, who fled the plantations of rural South Carolina. When I reach back, digging deep and feeling closely, I find seeds from my mother’s dreams across the vast landscapes of my work.” — Jazsalyn

A(spora) references the root term ‘spore’ within ‘diaspora’. The Gullah Geechee Corridor is a National Heritage area and a culturally significant region to West and Central African descendants in the United States of America, stretching along the coastal plains from North Carolina to Florida. As a part of artist Jazsalyn’s research-based practice, she defines Ancestral Intelligence as the earliest forms of knowledge systems, philosophies, and traditions passed down from generation to generation within indigenous groups, their descendants, and their diasporic communities.

As a part of the digital landscape of A(spora), the artist renders microscopic imagery of indigenous African plant species (i.e. indigo and okra) to transform the corridor through collage, AR, AI, and 3D simulation technologies. Channeling her Afro-Carolinian lineage, the work carries hidden histories to communities within her hometown. Each scene visualizes the significance of ancestral agriculture on contemporary textile practices. Embracing the regenerative capacity of various organisms, knowledge systems, and African practices, A(spora) is a testament to the diaspora flourishing in new environments despite displacement.

Jazsalyn is an artist and researcher working where fiction and reality collide. Through alternative media and re-indigenization, her practice considers issues regarding data loss, memory restoration, and Ancestral Intelligence. She develops long-term projects with game engines, algorithmic processes, and video art to explore counter-futures and complex human-to-nonhuman knowledge systems. As a lecturer at The New School, she has built curricula on African and Diaspora rituals as speculative technology. She is the Artistic Director of the experimental curatorial project Black Beyond, where she curates exhibitions and experiences to envision alternate realities for (b)lackness. Her work has been supported by Serpentine Arts Technologies, New Museum, Pioneer Works, Creative Time, and more. She has been featured in publications such as Cultured Magazine, It’s Nice That, Vogue, and The New Yorker.

Jazsalyn, A(spora), 2025. Installation view at John Chavis Memorial Park, Raleigh, NC, US. Courtesy the artist and Raleigh Arts. Photographer: Jude McDonald.