Featured in The Offing
“Yes, maybe bits of the moon peak from between my teeth. Maybe, I’m blushing everywhere. Maybe, from between my legs, lilies are whispering to God”
—Excerpt from “I Haven’t Mastered the Mirror”
Ajanaé Dawkins is an interdisciplinary poet, performance artist, and theologian.
Ajanaé is the author of BLOOD-FLEX and the Creator and Editor-in-Chief of OILY—an interdisciplinary spiritual archival project that takes the relationship between art and faith seriously. Her solo-exhibition, No ONE Teaches Us How To Be Daughters debuted at 2024 at Ohio State University’s Urban Arts Space and her one-woman show, Altantic in 2015 at The Overture Center for the Arts.
She has been awarded fellowships and residencies from Haymarket Books & The Mellon Foundation, The Elizabeth George Foundation, Cave Canem, The Ohio State University, the Taft Museum, and more.
She works through poetry, visual art, performance, and audio to explore the politics of faith, grief, and intimate relationships between Black women. As a theologian, she blends cultural criticism, memoir, and theology as autotheory to consider the relationship between Black church history, spirituality, and creation.
(Photo credits: Matthew Pitts)
Press
2026
2025
Matter News | Ajanaé Dawkins takes a more empathetic view of the past in Blood-Flex
The State Press | Getting to the Root of Black Hair and Culture Through ASU Art Exhibition
Medium | Blood-Flex by Ajanae Dawkins
2024
Columbus Underground | Top 10 Authors in Columbus of 2024
Matter News | Ajanaé Dawkins addresses heavy questions in No One Teaches Us How to Be Daughters
Columbus Underground | Columbus Makes Art Presents Ajanaé Dawkins on Beyoncé, Poetry, and Lineage
Matter News | Poet Ajanae Dawkins begins to Narrow Her Focus
2023
The Ohio State University | Poet Ajanaé Dawkins Selected as 2024 Urban Arts Space Community Artist-in-Residence
Black Coffee and Theology | “Where are you finding God? with Ajanaé Dawkins." (Podcast Guest)
The Poetry Question | “S6EP13: AJANAÉ DAWKINS.” (Podcast Guest)
Reckon | “What about your friends?: How queer friendships fulfill Black women.” (February 13, 2023)
2022
Cincy People. “4 More: Ajanae Dawkins.” (December 20, 2022)
The Voice of BLACK Cincinnati. “Ajanae Dawkins, is the New Duncanson Artist-in-Residence.” (March 28, 2022)
Madison 365. “UW Alumna, Poet Ajanae Dawkins earns Prestigious Residency at Taft Museum of Art.” (April 18, 2022)
Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion at University of Wisconsin Madison. “First Wave alumna, writer, performer Ajanae Dawkins to lead public programs, teach workshops, and visit schools across greater Cincinnati.” (April 19, 2022)
The Poetry Foundation. “VS Announces New Cohosts: Ajanae Dawkins & Brittany Rogers.” (March 15, 2022)
Randolph College. “M.F.A. Students Named New Hosts of Poetry Foundation Podcast.” (April 11, 2022)
Cincinatti Business Courier’s The Business Journals. “Taft Museum names Ajanae Dawkins as 2022 Duncanson Artist-in-Residence.” (Jan 25, 2022)
Movers & Makers, Cincinatti. “Taft Museum of Arts Selects Dawkins as 2022 Duncanson Artist-in-Residence.” (January 27, 2022)
The Cincinnati Herald. “Taft Museum hosts Duncanson Artist-in-Residence Ajanae Dawkins– Writer and Performance Artist.” (April 8, 2022)
She Will Not Fall | “Let’s Talk Liberation: Ajanaé Dawkins.” (Podcast Guest)
2020
Contemporaries, The Podcast | “Season 2/Ep. 3/Ajanaé Dawkins.” (Podcast Guest)
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