Born on the South America land of Guyana, Shiann meaning “she who speaks another language”, is an artist, educator and poet who pushes the envelope of social justice through wellness and storytelling using various mediums to explore what it means to be Black, Caribbean and Indigenous on stolen land.
In your own words, can you explain your title/current role as an educator and healer.
My name is Shiann which means “she who speaks another language”. My work lies at the intersection of creating spaces for the gathering and radical expression of community, while fostering authenticity, emotional intelligence and sexual wellness through the expressive arts. My work is radical, my work is loud. The work is in challenging the status of whiteness through intentional Black girl magic; rockin my waist beads, long ass braids and fingernails that be way too bright, keepin my fingers decked with Amethyst and Moonstone.
The work as an artist, writer and poet is to reflect the times and challenge them. The work is in staying protected as I navigate systems of oppression. I often channel the rage of my Ancestors, the women who came before me and the ones that did not get a chance to, in my writing, the way I perform, I have come to know this righteous rage as my superpower. As an educator, it fuels me to pave a new way of thinking and existing for the youth that I teach, a way of being that is deliberate, intentional and a reflection of Black joy. For me the work is and has always been to DECOLONIZE EVERYTHING.
What called you to this line of work? How do you encourage social change through your work?
During the fall of last year, I spent ten intense months on a personal healing journey exploring Afro- Indigenous based healing modalities. In this period of reclamation, depression, transformation and deep listening, I heard a call that would shift the trajectory of my work.
‘Create a table and a Queendom’ were the instructions placed in my heart. Birthed out of love and resistance, The Coven is a digital wellness platform for the voices of Black and Afro Indigenous women and youth. The Coven is a collective Queendom for Black and Indigenous women of colour. These are storytellers, medicine makers, artists and educators who wish to explore themes of social justice, connection to the land and ways of preserving cultural traditions around birth work, storytelling and healing.
We provide mental wellness inspiration and arts education in the form of workshops, healing circles, self love rituals and prompts around social justice and holistic and ancestral based healing practices.
What does the term “wellness” mean to you? What was your first intentional experience with “wellness”? How has your understanding of the term changed given the current experience of living through a pandemic? What are some wellness practices you carry out in your day to day life?
I am still exploring what it means to be well as I do this work, to practice self care as deeply as I care for others, to actively practise what I preach especially on days when inner child wounds collide with mother wounds and I feel I fall short of what it is I say I embody, particularly in my work with Coven. Many of my wounds and traumas have revealed themselves to me in the reflections of 26 sister women who I have called to be in community with and struggle to be in community with because sometimes I don't trust myself and what the Coven is calling me to lead. I struggle with healing out loud vs living a very private existence but the calling calls me, as an artist and leader the calling stretches me to grow past any self imposed fear and reminds me, that in Spirit I am 10 ft tall. So right now wellness for me is naming my fears and getting real comfortable with me, outside of the projections, outside of the expectations, outside of the illusions. Wellness for me is giving myself grace and privacy to break open and permission to slowly return back to social media platforms without any pressure to create or show up a certain way.
From your perspective, how are adornment and wellness linked? What is it about the act of adorning our physical self that supports our physical, mental and spiritual well being?
The practice of adorning my body in handmade waist beads imported from the Motherland or local Black women artisans is a form of self care and a tool of resistance, protection and support. For me, as an Afro- Caribbean femme who has made home out of a country that does not belong to her adornment is a tools that reestablishes my connection to the Motherland, my first motherland being Guyana, my second motherland being West Africa and and all of the wisdom + lineage and healing that can be found in the places that we call home. The practise of adorning my body; painting my nails + braiding my hair + laying my edges... or not is a reminder that I am home in this body and I am safe.
Artist @renzzart
What are waist beads, where do they originate from and what is their purpose?
Having been born in the South American region of Guyana with ancestry that is deeply West African, Afro- Caribbean and Indigenous, so many of our traditions have been washed away, waist beads are a tradition that my body remembers, I was drawn to them on a spiritual level before I understood the cultural practice of waist bead making and adornment. I got my first pair of waist beads made from Queen Lamoi Simmonds, at the time I meet her she was a jeweller and made crystal infused waist beads I remember her telling me ‘’queen these beads have a story of their own, whenever your beads break or fall off you, they have served their purpose’’. Waist beads for me as a young Afro- Caribbean femme is the reclamation of my time, beauty and wellness. There is nothing that I love more than being naked in my brown skin, waist beads adorning my hips and dancing to Soca + Afrobeats the rhythm and drums remind me that I am home, the sound of my beads clicking together with every move and shake remind my body that she is GODDESS and anyone lucky enough to witness her in her truest essence- naked and in waist beads must bow to her ESSENCE.
From a cultural standpoint waist beads are a West African tradition that dates back to Antiquity. In Ghana, Nigeria, Senegal, and other West African countries, waist beads are a symbol of femininity, fertility, sensuality, and spiritual well-being. In many West African traditions, mothers tie a pair of waist beads onto daughters during their first menstruation to symbolize their passage into womanhood. Outgrowing a pair of waist beads may also mark the transition into a new stage of life. The beads a girl wears during puberty will differ from the beads she wears after her first child, for example. While women of all races and ethnicities wear waist beads ( another growing trend of cultural appropriation I see is the wearing of waist beads among non Black women that really pisses me off..) this accessory has unmistakably African origins. Waist beads are a popular way for Black women in the diaspora to connect to their beautiful bodies and reestablish connection back to their heritage and cultural practices.
Who in your life taught you these adornment practices?
There are many different practices that I have learned over the years from my village of sisters, teachers and tribe.
Lamoi Simmonds owner of ShakarahJewelyco made me my first pair of waist beads and schooled me on the practice of physical adornment.
Mahlikah Awe:ri schools me on the practice of makeup as tribal paint simply by existing in her Afro-Indigenous warrior woman ways.
Ohh and I love a good head wrap.
Photo credit @chiaphoenix
You say wellness is tied to “naming my fears and getting real comfortable with me”. Sounds like wellness for you has been linked to honesty and authenticity. Can you describe that process of naming your fears? What does it look like? Do you write them down on a piece of paper, do you meditate? Or do you just think about them in your mind?
Naming your fears: A ritual to reclaim inner strength + courage.
Begin with a blank sheet of paper and begin to name your fears
These are thought patterns/beliefs/systems/ wounds that keep you stuck and limited.
Fears could be behavioural patterns that no longer serve you (insecurity, i'm not good enough)
These could be shadow attributes (envy, jealousy, rage)
Write down your fears one by one on pieces of bay leaf or paper
In a cauldron or safe place you will burn each leaf or piece of paper that has a fear on it.
As you burn each leaf you will say out loud what you are letting go off
In your journal you will replace each fear that you wrote down with an affirmation
Repeat the following sentence in the mirror ‘’ I am now ready to release (name fear) and I embrace (what you wish to attract)
Where can people find you?
You can find out more about The Coven and the ways our work inspires social change by visiting or making a donation to www.sincerelyshyy.com.
You can find me on instagram @ i.be.sincerely
You can shop waist beads @mothertongue.cinnamon
For more information on the coven @this.is.the.coven
Website: www.sincerelyshyy.poetry@gmail.com
To book a tarot reading email sincerelyshyy.poetry@gmail.com
