Transdisciplinary: Rejjia Camphor: Ecotones: The Art of Entanglement

My work lives at the intersection of art, ecology, justice, and place. I blend art and activism to explore the sacredness of place, memory, and spiritual reclamation as strategies of both resistance and repair in the face of trauma.

My work is both poetic and provocative, evoking deep emotion, reflection, and action through form. I challenge traditional narratives around Black womanhood, the environment, and body politics—often using embodied experiences as tools for reimagining, experimentation, and healing.

This exhibit traces a living archive of Black girlhood, nature, grief, survival, and ritual design as strategies for creative problem-solving in response to racial injustice, environmental racism, neglect, and ecological grief. Through charcoal drawing, film, performance, installation, photography, digital media, writing, ritual, sculpture, craft, and interactive works, I explore how environments carry memory—how identity, culture, and Black life are entangled with ecological systems—and how justice can be creatively designed.

These works are born from lived experience: the residue of polluted neighborhoods, the rituals of cleansing and repair, the echoes of animals and ancestors, and the tension between vulnerability and resilience. Each piece is a vessel for witnessing and transformation.

I approach artmaking as both testimony and tool: a way to name loss, build connection, and make sacred the overlooked. Whether through a word search memorializing survivors, a film confronting environmental neglect, or a participatory altar made from wishes or waste, I create spaces that invite reflection, co-design, restoration, joy, and multispecies kinship. My practice is rooted in personal and collective memory, drawing from them to imagine futures that center relationship, respect, and pleasure—for self, for land, and for each other.

Me, artist Rejjia Camphor, standing beside the Wish Tree—a biannual interactive public art installation made from natural and non-recyclable materials. Designed as a shared space for intention, reflection, and expression, the Wish Tree invites viewers to encounter handwritten wishes, dreams, and heartfelt affirmations from the local community, wrapped around and tied to its trunk. Though individual messages are not legible, the collective gesture creates a space of care, play, and joy. Rooted in ritual and community care, the Wish Tree stands as a living symbol of strength, connection, and storytelling. This evolving installation continues to grow—not through foliage, but through layers of words and energy, holding space for the dreams of those who contribute. This photograph was taken in 2024. Read the wishes here: https://rejjiacamphor.com/about-1

Daylight Savings is a short film that captures how I see nature’s beauty—showcasing vibrant flowers, towering trees, and natural landscapes—while also confronting the harsh reality of litter polluting stream waters and roadsides. This contrast helps tell the story of why I created Sister Stream Catcher, an environmental organizing project dedicated to restoring Baltimore’s natural spaces. Through a blend of color and black-and-white imagery, personal narration, and documentary-style footage, the film demonstrates how litter strips nature of its beauty and sacredness. I believe our environments are a reflection of ourselves—when we neglect or pollute them, we reveal a deeper disregard for our own well-being. This film is both a call to awareness and an invitation to see environmental care as an extension of self-respect and collective healing. Watch here: https://youtu.be/89JCpnZHV-w?si=Kjn3nX-2hEQlRT-U

Spider- is a striking and introspective self portrait that explores the complexities of navigating sexuality, power and survival in the aftermath of trauma. The composition distorts and mirrors itself, forming a central focal point with two oval-like shapes resembling eyes—watching, confronting, and searching. This eerie symmetry evokes a sense of unease, capturing the tension between fear and agency, between the lingering presence of trauma and the effort to reclaim confidence and control. Inspired by the spider’s dual role as both predator and creator, this work speaks to dating, intimacy and discernment as well as the necessity of self-preservation. Just as female spiders consume their mates if the “vibes on the web” are off, this piece reflects my commitment to maintaining high standards of safety and respect in the face of vulnerability. spider- invites viewers to to sit in stillness—like a spider in its web—and reflect on their own relationship with vigilance and empowerment. Spider- is part of a series. See more here: https://bakerartist.org/portfolios/rejjiacamphor

-Web is an intricate self portrait designed to emulate the structural complexity of a spider’s web. Fragmented into a geometric network of triangles, this piece reflects the slow and meticulous process of healing from trauma. Where spider- focuses on confrontation and discernment, -web speaks to the art of creation—the patience and care required to rebuild a foundation of power, autonomy, and respect. Each thread in -web represents the deliberate weaving of boundaries, trust, and self-worth back into my life. Inspired by the resilience of spiders and their ability to construct strong yet delicate webs, this work invites viewers to reflect on the incredibly fragile yet profound strength of healing and the ways in which we navigate our own intricate frameworks of experience. -Web is part of a series. See more here: https://bakerartist.org/portfolios/rejjiacamphor

Her merges photography and digital painting to explore healing, sexuality, and the body’s connection to nature. The composition features a profile-like silhouette of a woman with soft peach hair and a radiant yellow face, evoking a sun-like warmth and illumination. Beneath the face, a black heart-like form cradles a vulva nestled inside it, resembling a baby—a visual representation of sheltering, protection, and the transformation of pain through connection to the natural world. The natural elements within the piece—the radiant sun-like face, the blue sky, earthy brown and green grounds, and deep navy blue waters—symbolize how nature feels to me: restoring, healing, and comforting. The contrast between the dark heart and the surrounding vibrant landscape reflects the tension between trauma and healing, reinforcing the idea that nature holds, nurtures, and restores. Her is a celebration of femininity and beauty, evoking joy, and pleasure, resisting female sexuality as something shameful but rather reclaiming it as something beautiful, natural, and deeply connected to the world around us. Her is part of a series. See more here: https://bakerartist.org/portfolios/rejjiacamphor

“Earth D(ec)ay” is a spray painting created in December 2019 in preparation for Earth Day 2020. But let’s be honest, everyday is Earth Day! This work advocates for the crucial need for the preservation of natural spaces, recognizing their significant role in our healing and personal growth. “Earth D(ec)ay” acknowledges the suffering of the Earth and declares my commitment to defend her right to safety, space, consistency, and stability. This piece represents Nature’s pain from the various forms of ecological degradation, exploitation, and harm caused by human actions. From the environmental racism of ghettos, food deserts, and gentrification to global warming, deforestation, nuclear waste dumping, natural disasters, and the destruction of indigenous reserves, “Earth D(ec)ay” illustrates the myriad ways in which the Earth suffers. It serves as a call to action, urging viewers to participate in efforts to protect our planet and ensure environmental justice for all. “Earth D(ec)ay” also resonates with the collective pain and struggles of marginalized communities. It remembers the words of Eric Garner, “I Can’t Breathe,” and parallels them with the Earth’s own suffocation from environmental toxins and degradation. By presenting “Earth D(ec)ay,” I hope to contribute to dialogue on land loss, decomposition, memory, and transformation. This piece encourages viewers to reflect on their impact on the Earth and to participate in efforts that promote the health and well-being of our planet.

I wrote this poem after my professor told us we were thinking too big and needed to start smaller. All That We Can is my way of responding to that—sitting with the weight of witnessing climate crisis, generational trauma, and injustice, while still trying to figure out what I can do about it. Shifting between overwhelm and intimacy, urgency and softness, between the ocean and the body, the poem asks: What does it mean to be a “bug to the ocean” yet still be responsible for its healing? This piece blends climate grief, water justice, racial trauma, and spiritual longing into a lyrical meditation on what it means to be small and still show up, to carry grief and love at the same time. I’m asking what it means to feel all of it, and still do all that we can. It’s part prayer, part poem, part plea for us to slow down and care about water, about each other, and about the earth.

In Fall 2018, I undertook an independent field study project titled Walking Home: A Glance Back at My History in Baltimore. Through autobiographical creative writing, photography, site-based investigation, and archival mapping, I traced the locations of my former homes in chronological order to recover memories, lived experiences, and childhood traumas rooted in Baltimore. As part of this process, I visited multiple sites, engaged in a range of writing exercises, read relevant texts, reviewed family photos and documents, conducted online database research, and held in-depth conversations with family members. An exploration of place, memory, and survival .My goal was to gather data and insights that would help me reconstruct personal memory—not only intellectually, but also in terms of its emotional and spiritual dimensions including multispecies encounters. This approach not only revealed information I hadn’t previously known, but it also helped me begin to make sense of the traumatic history I carried—and take necessary steps toward healing.

Rejjia Camphor is a transdisciplinary artist, educator, and organizer from Baltimore, Maryland, with a studio at the Bromo Seltzer Arts Tower. She is the founder of Sister Stream Catcher, a initiative that uses art, activism, ritual and spirituality to reimagine conservation in Baltimore. Currently, Rejjia is the Valerie J. Maynard Intern at the Baltimore Museum of Art, a Creative Writing Instructor with Writers in Baltimore Schools and Johns Hopkins University, and a faculty member in MICA’s Open Studies program. A recipient of awards from CERF+, Maryland Philanthropy Network, and Youth As Resources, her work-featured in AFRO, CityLit, Baltimore Beat, and VoyageBaltimore-has been exhibited across Maryland, including at 410 Gallery, Creative Alliance, Maryland Art Place, The Peale, Pratt Libraries and UMBC among others. Drawing from ritual, design, and Black feminist thought, she creates participatory artworks that honor both human and nonhuman life and invite ecological imagination and collective care.

Transdisciplinary: Rejjia Camphor: Ecotones: The Art of Entanglement

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