An Ode to Our Grandmothers
Generating mindful story sharing of women elders in our community
Communal Veneration Project
The central mission of An Ode to Our Grandmothers is to create space for remembering—remembering our elders, listening deeply to their stories, and drawing lessons from their lives. For those elders who can no longer speak, this project invites their descendants to honor them by speaking their names and holding intentional space for the memories they carry. Through reflective storytelling, this project aims to restore ancestral connections, promote healing, and support a process of personal and collective transformation.
Knowing our elders’ stories is imperative to community sustenance, the fortification of cultural bonds, and the mindful realization of their contributions to selfhood.
In a society obsessed with productivity and the pursuit of the next new thing, sitting still with the oldest parts of ourselves can feel frivolous. Yet there is so much wisdom and medicine to be internalized when we reflect on or with our elders. There are unique remedies left behind in the telling of our family stories, ones that can only be administered through the minds, mouths, and memories of the elders.
I’ve had the honor of sitting with many relatives, friends, and community members to listen and record the matriarchal stories that shape our lineages. From these conversations, I am creating a community artifact: a poetry-photo collage book that pays tribute to our grandmothers.
With the help of intentionally guided conversations of grandmothers and their descendants, I will craft poetic odes alongside digital collages (as pictured above) —each a visual and literary homage. By offering families the opportunity to engage in the mindful veneration of their elders, we are reclaiming the often-forgotten art of story-keeping, a practice that has long been central to the survival and sustenance of BIPOC communities
In the past 6 months, I’ve been gifted with the stories of over 60 grandmothers and women elders in my community. This 15-question invitation has become a vessel for intergenerational reflection across the nation, inspiring loved ones to gather, mindfully remember, and honor their matriarchs through story-sharing. This project has even reached international stories of grandmothers’ lives in The Gambia, Mexico, Haiti, India, and Jamacia.
An Ode to Our Grandmothers provides a foundation for individual and collective healing by offering a platform for families to engage in reflective, meditative storytelling. It creates the conditions for deep transformation within families, strengthening their interpersonal bonds, and fostering a sense of cultural and communal belonging. In honoring our elders and ancestors, we fortify the roots from which we grow—laying the groundwork for the greater work of justice, remembrance, and liberation.
“When young people come to understand their past, their lineage, they are naturally more resilient and much less likely to abuse drugs and alcohol, to take sexual risks, or have multiple illnesses. If they know any story at all, they will be more resilient than if those stories are lost. Even if those stories are of generations of violence or loss, they will still be more resilient…Indigenous peoples need to go back and find the rest of their stories.”
— Alice Walker, Grandmothers Counsel the World: Women Elders Offer Their Vision for Our Planet