Today we’d like to introduce you to ThepoetAF Amandafurdge, Artchitect, GOD MADE ART.
Alright, so thank you so much for sharing your story and insight with our readers. To kick things off, can you tell us a bit about how you got started?
i was born in a hospital in South Jackson, Mississippi in 1988. i was also raised in the Mississippi Delta between Yazoo City & Clarksdale, Mississippi, with my grandparents because that’s how you might’ve be raised in the rural south in the 80’s/90’s. i came to live in 39206 in 1992-1993 w my older brother & younger sister so that we could attend Jackson Public Schools & be raised by our parents. i grew up primarily in North Jackson, Brown Bottom & on the weekends, the mississippi Delta. i was raised up speaking, dancing & singing in church. i started reading & writing at a very young age as a way to express myself. i grew up mississippi poor, Black & Southern Baptist. my dad, his dad & his dad, they were (are) pastors & preachers. my mama, her mama & her mama + all the sisters have been housekeepers & washerwomen for white folks, maids, nurses etc who LOVE JESUS. my grandparents are educators; my parents are nurses. most of my uncles serve/d as deacons. so, i’ve always been deeply engaged in the language & articulation of care for the lives of other people, friends & neighbors through service, community activism, organizing & advocacy. as a tool for God, w a gift from God & w the permission & support of my ancestors, i continue to use written, visual, audio & performance art as an offering of love, service & documentation – inspired by my raised conscious responsibility to creatively reflect the time period i live through as well as the culture we carry w the GOD MADE ART i live out. i have been writing & producing creative ways of being & sharing for as long as i can remember & about whatever i can/could remember that is was special to remember.
Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
it’s been a northside drive. it’s been a mill street. it’s been a county line road at Christmas at time. it’s been an I-55 south to NOLA. It’s been an I-55 north to CHICAGO. it’s been a natchez trace. mississippi teaches us that perspective is precious. i am a Black Mississippi woman carrying big light meant to disrupt big darkness. in my lifetime, there have been many personal & collective enemies to my GOD MADE ART that have expressed as poverty, abandonment, rejection, familial, religious & intimate partner abuse, anti-Blackness, classism, nepotism, white supremacy, intergenerational Black American trauma as a direct result of the horrors of the transatlantic slave trade, social, economic & environmental abuse & injustices just to name a select few plus me, myself as a direct challenge to my own limiting beliefs.
Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know about your work?
i specialize in LOVE & SERVICE. i am well known & well respected as a master dream doula & mississippi griot, in addition to over 20 solid years & counting as a nationally & internationally recognized polymath, my creative capacity is called upon, revealed & expressed most often through spoken word performance art that is inclusive of submission to the Holy Spirit, the written word, audio & visual storytelling, movement & the activation of collective participation of call & response, as well as being highly respected as a single mother to 3 Black sons, youth advocate, community servant, social justice advocate & activist & cultural/social influencer.
Alright, so to wrap up, is there anything else you’d like to share with us?
TRUST GOD
LOVE PEOPLE
PROTECT CHILDREN NOT GUNS
DRINK WATER
READ POETRY
RESPECT MISSISSIPPI
Contact Info:
- Website: https://linktr.ee/amandafurdge
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/amandafurdge
- Twitter: https://x.com/furdgecakes
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/user/amandafurdge
- Soundcloud: https://soundcloud.com/amanda-furdge/30af
- Other: https://rooted.substack.com/p/mississippi-native-amanda-furdge
