Deja Milany

Deja Milany (1996 born in Rockdale, GA; lives and works in Detroit, MI) received her B.F.A in Fiber Crafts from the College for Creative Studies, Detroit, MI in 2018 and a M.F.A in Fibers from Cranbrook Academy of Art in Bloomfield, MI in 2022. Milany has been an artist in residence at the ACRE Artist Residency in Southwest Wisconsin & Womxn House Residency in Detroit, MI. She has also received the Red Bull Arts Microgrant in 2021. Her work has been displayed in a solo exhibition at the Interloper Galleries in Seattle, WA. She has also participated in several group exhibitions at the Yale University, Annex Gallery, Library Street Collective, & Museum of Contemporary Arts Gala & more. She is currently a Secondary Craft and Fibers teacher at the University Preparatory Academy Art & Design High School.

ARTIST STATEMENT:

French Rolls, Micros, Bantu Knots, Locks, Spritz, Oil Sheen, Foils Sheets, Pony Beads; Deja Milany was born to a mother who took pride in her career as a Detroit Hair Stylist. Her hard work surrounded Milany & her siblings with the rich beauty of Black hairstyling in their homes & the salons of the many towns they’d land in. Where blow dryers, ringing phones, and laughter-filled conversation blend with FM radios playing Badu or Jill. It was here during some of the only times they had to care for themselves Black women felt safe to have the audacity to tell their stories, grieve, manifest dreams & celebrate. 

Feather combs, Rat Tails, Rubber Bands, Marcel Stoves, Tumbleweaves, Cowrie shells, where dinner plates, Shea butter & dvd’s are sold; These items are found in Black salons or any space a Black woman claims for herself. Milany raised & surrounded by Black femmes found safety cultivated in them in her formative years. Allowing her to explore hair in all forms of manipulation offered her the chance to re-center herself and escape. Where she found community.

Combahee River Collective, Nikki Giovanni, Brittany Cooper; These items and symbols for care soon turned into a significant part of her studio practice.With her ultimate goal of accessing freedom She now uses them to investigate, meditate & ideate on what access to safety & safe spaces look like for Black Femmes. Through her Mind Map series she uses the braid as a mark marking tool to document her journey to mental freedom. As a mentally disabled Black woman reticent about speaking on her dreams; she is now ready to share her needs and desires. So she uses the form of communication she is fluent in, fiber craft. Hair is one of the first forms of fiber manipulation. Needle crafting, quilting, embroidery and beading are all one in the same. In her Let Your Hair Down series Deja uses video and mobileesque sculptures to explore the duality of multisensory spaces, identity & joy for Black femmes like herself. Providing a private space in easily accessible public spaces, often not allowed for black bodies, let alone Black femmes. A space to exist outside of an opposing gaze, focusing on how Black femmes are forced to exist and maneuver in spaces existing at the complex intersection of invisibility and hypervisibility. She prioritizes the value of Black private space with the objects & environments she creates. Deja is dedicated to return the gesture of safety by providing a space for Black femmes to dream, and share their needs and desires as they've done for her.