‘The Human in Us All’ was made in collaboration with artist Gloria O’Koye (she/her) known by her artist name Glowz. Follow her amazing work on Instagram .
The Human in Us All (2024) by Glowz and Ayonti Mahreen Huq
This piece was originally made for Trajectories of Now: An Anthology (2024). The Trajectories exhibition was part of the ReAct ReCreate ReVision project (referred to as RRR in this blog), a community arts collective of diverse emerging artists.
The Human In Us All is an audiovisual storyscape illuminating voices and experiences of Black and Indigenous women in the incarceration system. Artist Gloria O’koye (aka Glowz) draws on narratives based in lived experience to shed light into what goes on behind prison walls. She seeks to bring increased awareness to barricades experienced prior, during and post incarceration, and how each stage is fought with challenges, stigma and misunderstandings.
How does society meet people halfway?
The visual imagery for this piece was developed in collaboration with fellow Trajectories artist Ayonti Mahreen Huq, who worked to bring Glowz’ visions to life. The resulting image shows two women with their braids intertwined, holding on to each other for strength. Their wombs are reflected using a vulvar shape showing the inner child crying. The cut braid of the Indigenous woman represents her isolation from communities, culture, traditions and teachings. The artists envisioned the women in an open-field with fresh green grass, beautiful sky and winds, to counter the cold realities of incarceration.
The final piece combines Ayonti’s imagery with Glowz ‘ powerful collaborative spoken word poetry, to highlight complexities that individuals go through in life. The work seeks to resist the ways in which people’s voices get shunned or judged the moment they open up about these journeys. And to open doors on how incarceration impacts loved ones and communities.
A little real, a little imagined.
The Beginning
I remember the day. All of us artists gathered at SKETCH, trying to pitch ideas. I was struggling to come up with a solid project and had resorted to “keep showing your face until they kick you out,” lol.
Glowz was the last to speak about her project ideas. When she announced that she wanted to work on a project to honour the women lost to prison injustice and incarceration, the whole room fell silent. A powerful proposal—this was not for the light-hearted.
Mentally, I got myself out of the way real quick. While I knew the realities of the system, my upbringing was fortunate enough to not let me experience its rawness. My mother is a lawyer, but she did not pursue a professional career—yet from my own calculations, I automatically declared myself unsuitable for such a collaboration. Not because I considered myself the ‘opposite,’ but simply because I did not deem myself ready to take on work of this magnitude.
The facilitators kept talking to me about collaborating with Glowz, and I nodded my head every time—empty. Collaborating on a project like this would open doors I wasn’t sure I wanted to open yet.
Glowz would say that she hears the voices of the women who are lost, and I gulped. I am a business graduate working a wonderful corporate job. Art is my hobby. I will not entertain this other side. Silly fantasies in my head and nothing more. Again, a door I refused to open. Because trauma is meant to be eradicated, to be banished. Trauma and its effects were a pathetic roadblock to the immigrant dream I had decided to chase like a beast. At least that was how I viewed it back then. Did I really want to get involved and let this get to me? Did I want this to step on my big city dreams and force me to see its decaying underbelly?
Not yet.
The Process
It was when the RRR team finalized the exhibition venue that shit finally started feeling real. Seeing that I wasn’t interested in any individual project, I was proposed to spearhead the visual communications for the exhibition—to which I gladly agreed. Yay, so I don’t get kicked out, phewww!
I had started making traditional frame-by-frame animation at the beginning of 2024 as a hobby. I had already created some small animation reels, but when the facilitators announced that Glowz needed an animator for the project, for some reason it piqued my interest. I was asked again if I would be interested, to which I said I needed to talk with Glowz first to figure out if I was the right fit for this. I was confused by my own change of heart, but by then I had learned to trust myself enough to take the leap. The voice lingering inside my head: Are you ready to take on more of the goddess’ burden? Stick to business, stick to business, stick to business…
I asked Glowz what her idea for the visuals would be, to which she described the framework of the art you saw in the beginning. I went home, sat straight on the couch with my iPad, and drew the below in one sitting. Glowz took one look and decided that I would be the one animating this.
Primary concept sketch by Ayonti Mahreen Huq for The Human in Us All (2024)
The Resultts
Glowz placed her full trust in me since day one of collaborating. We had one of those beautiful dynamics where it was mutual love and care and nothing else. She game me full creative freedom for the visuals and logistics; I let her shape and define the overall concept. She is a sacred spirit, and I am fortunate to have had this opportunity to work with her. We hope to scale the project up in the future.
The end result was a six-minute hand-drawn animation comprising sketch and final artwork timelapses, primary movement, and voiceovers of Glowz’s powerful spoken words.
I refused to make the girls and their settings bleak. My women are never bleak. They are vibrant and powerful. They are beautiful, yet sharp as a blade. They fear nobody, they need nobody. They are whole. They look at each other with Love and at the audience with the Truth. They convert the walls of a prison into Eden with their imagination. The trees and the birds carry their words when the humans try to silence them.
The Human in Us All concept sketch by Ayonti Mahreen Huq (2024)
Patriarchy and capitalism have convinced women that they lack. Creators of Life—lacking! They convince us that prison will fix the broken instead of fixing the system that broke them to begin with. Lies and liars. Always have been, always will be. The liar only blinds themselves and no one else. The end result will be a collapse on their own throne. History will keep repeating the prophecies over and over again until the higher order allows it no more.
I quite enjoy people’s polarised reactions to the piece. We have had people who bowed at us with teary eyes and folded palms, and people who took one look, sneered, and walked away. Incarceration and institutional injustice are issues few are brave enough to face head-on, and it is understandable. After all, it forces us to come to terms with the lovelessness we have normalised and capitalised on to harm humanity and the planet.
The animation was also exhibited at Geary Art Crawl 2024. I had a wonderful first day making my very pregnant Divine Feminine (Glowz) stay till late, and myself arguing with men over my amazing slogan t-shirt—but that is a story for another day!
The Human in Us All concept sketch by Ayonti Mahreen Huq at Geary Art Crawl (2024)
Final Comments
There is nothing more to say about Glowz’s way with words—the raw power that shakes souls—created from the simple recipe of honouring herself and those who speak through her.
This project, and the exhibition itself, made me to look at the weight of my own work—of omens and prophecies that manifest through my hands. The subsequent life choices I made post-project have led me to a deeper journey of my own identity as an artist and an individual—who am I, and what am I here for? It is an ongoing process, but every day I love the journey a little more.
I used to think it was an unsustainable choice to be an artist, until I remembered that the work is beyond human to begin with—so human parameters do not work here. How wonderful it is to be blessed with the ability to create something with human tools, yet beyond human limitations!
Thank you, Glowz, for letting me create something so beautiful. Witness us.
And thank you to each and every one of you who have supported me and continue to support me as an artist. I used to be selfish and think my work was only mine to enjoy, but I keep being contradicted every day. It brings me great joy to see that I am not alone in experiencing my manifestations.
We made a special leaflet to distribute for The Human in Us All (see below). There are still some copies—feel free to reach out to me if you would like one! Also, kindly consider supporting the grassroots organisations and collectives listed in the image.
Special Leaflet for The Human in Us All (2024). Designed by Ayonti Mahreen Huq.
