✰PREMIUM OlaRonke Akinmowo creates for the community
The Brooklyn native founded the Free Black Women’s Library to encourage literacy, connectivity and access
OlaRonke Akinmowo in the back garden of the Free Black Women's Library. Photo courtesy of the Free Black Women's Library
By Mandie-Beth Chau
November 27, 2024
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Brooklyn native and multidisciplinary artist OlaRonke Akinmowo started the Free Black Women’s Library in 2015. For the past decade, the social art project has served as a testament to Akinmowo’s passion for collaboration and community-based art and education.
“I’ve been responsible for keeping it going, curating programming, coming up with mutual aid initiatives, developing workshops, special events, running the book club, the book swap, the free store, pantry, the backyard, garden, all the different activities, curating the collection, keeping it organized, collaborating with authors, publishers, museums, art galleries, schools, social justice organizations, activists, whoever is interested in doing something with the library,” said Akinmowo, who described the library as her “brainchild.”
The reading room. Photo courtesy of the Free Black Women’s Library
The Free Black Women’s Library features over 5,000 books written by Black women and nonbinary writers. The library stocks every genre and reading level. Visitors can find comic books, graphic novels, magazines, zines and traditional books. Akinmowo designed the library to be a third space where visitors can utilize the space for educational, artistic and community activities.
“The library is a reading room, it’s a social site, it’s an archive, it’s a co-working space and a community care space where anyone of any race, age or gender can come and use the space to work on a personal project,” said Akinmowo, adding that the space has resources such as Wi-Fi, outdoor seating and community programming. “People use this space to meet friends, write in their journals, or work on an art project like drawing, painting, sewing, knitting or crocheting. People come and rest here.”
The reading room. Photo courtesy of the Free Black Women’s Library
Resources and activities at the library include a Sunday book swap where patrons can bring a book that aligns with the library’s themes and exchange it for a book from the library.
The library also has a period pantry with free menstruation products and a free store with new and gently used clothes, accessories, bags and shoes. Patrons are encouraged to donate when able to maintain the library’s resources, which combat the rapid gentrification and development occurring in the neighborhood. Through various resources, programs and efforts, Akinmowo hopes to combat poverty, gentrification and inequality by consistently and creatively caring for her community.
“I’m interested in offering counter-narratives, wanting people to think a little bit differently, question their perspectives, come up with new ideas on their own and open up their imaginations,” said Akinmowo. “I’m interested in care work; one of my favorite writers, Hartman, says ‘care is the antidote to violence,’ and there’s so much violence in the world — not just physical, but also psychic violence, mental violence, verbal violence — that takes place, and it’s something that as a Black woman, I incur daily, and other people incur it, too. I’m interested in putting more care into the world to offer an antidote to the violence that’s taking place.”
Akinmowo identifies as an artist, and all of her work falls into her artistic efforts. Beyond the Free Black Women’s Library, Akinmowo has participated in several residencies and artist programs, as well as set design for television and film.
From 2023 to 2025, Akinmowo has been an artist in residence at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, where her work is inspired by the concept of sisterhood and collectivity amongst Black feminist and womanist writers. Her Black feminist writing collective, Obsidian, is collaborating to publish an anthology at the end of the year.
The reading room. Photo courtesy of the Free Black Women’s Library
“Obsidian is inspired by Black women writer collectives or Black women collectives in general and the power that comes with collectivity. One of my favorite abolitionists, Mariame Kaba, said, ‘Everything worthwhile is done with other people,‘” said Akinmowo. “Obsidian consists of 15 black femme writers, and through my residency, I’m publishing an anthology featuring all of the work of the women in the collective.”
Akinmowo was the video artist in residency at BRIC in Downtown Brooklyn from 2022 to 2023, where she created a “highly experimental, hybrid film that features stop motion and live action.“The short film, “The Myth of Sanity,“ deals with colonialism, ableism, cultural dissonance, and more by deconstructing the notion of sanity.
OlaRonke Akinmowo. Photo courtesy of OlaRonke Akinmowo
“Race and gender can be considered constructs, and sanity can also be considered a construct because it’s really about your perspective and what you have access to, your culture and so on,“ said Akinmowo. “If you’re having visions, in some cultures, that’s schizophrenia, and they want to put you on medication. In other cultures, that’s like, ‘Oh, you’re gifted. You’re a seer.‘”
The library hosts a Sunday book swap. Photo courtesy of the Free Black Women’s Library
Akinmowo has also held residencies and fellowships at Culture Push, the Laundromat Project, theNew York Foundation for the Arts, Baldwin for the Arts and the Robert Blackburn Printmaking Shop. Residencies have been Akinmowo’s way of learning and growing her passion and skills, which she started cultivating through her creative instincts and trial and error.
“All of the work I do — whether it’s through the library or film or the writers cohort or publishing — it’s all part of my art practice and about wanting to put beauty and care into the world. It’s not very lofty,“ said Akinmowo. “Everything I’ve learned through experimentation, even with the library, collage, stop motion, printmaking — everything has been learned through doing. I’ve been cash-poor my whole life, so I haven’t had the opportunity to take any fancy art courses or work with a mentor or anything like that. I watch, figure out, read a lot of books, watch YouTube videos, ask questions, get residencies and learn in that way.“
Raised in Fort Greene and living in Bed-Stuy for the past 20 years, Akinmowo is familiar with the challenges and opportunities of being a Brooklynite.
The reading room. Photo courtesy of the Free Black Women’s Library
“The main thing that’s been challenging about Bed-Stuy is the gentrification and how it often feels like there’s a systemic effort to erase the essence and beauty of what has made Bed-Stuy great for me since the very beginning, which is the diasporic nature and the neighborhood feeling of Bed-Stuy,“ said Akinmowo, who noted that living in a rapidly gentrifying neighborhood has also pushed her to be resilient, self-aware and careful as she persists in her work.
“Bed-Stuy is a place that I care about. The library is a love letter to Bed-Stuy, and Bed-Stuy is where I have found my most vibrant and consistent support system in terms of friends, connections, collaborators andcommunity organizations that I’ve been a part of,“ Akinmowo said. “I love Brooklyn. It is a beautiful place, and it’s the reason why I want to do the library here and nowhere else.“
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In recent years, liberal and artistic spaces online and in pockets of urban areas saw an influx of “reactivism“ or “slacktivism,“ where individuals start participating in activist spaces from a place of fear, passiveness or reaction, usually also limited to digital spaces, rather than building off the consistent work of longtime activists, artists and community leaders. Akinmowo, whose work touches on activism, art and community investment, shared her advice as a community advocate and artist for several decades.
“I always advise against being reactionary. That’s one of my number one rules that I tell people is making decisions when you’re feeling reactionary or when you’re feeling desperate, those are the worst decisions,“ said Akinmowo. “Take your time, but be consistent in your work. Make something every single day. Learn something every day. Allow yourself to feel sad, disappointed, angry, afraid — but not to the point where you’re all-consumed.”
SUNSET PARK — “As a resident of Marine Park, one of the great surprises I found biking around Industry City and visiting Japan Village was to discover Bush Terminal Park. I continue to be amazed at the serene hideaways that the city offers in some of the busiest places — and, still, with an iconic view.”
BROOKLYN HEIGHTS — ‘A miracle that no one was killed …’ That’s what neighbors are saying about the collapse of the Hotel St. George marquee. Shown in this photograph are workmen beginning the removal and repair of the historic, old neon sign at the corner, referencing a relic of Brooklyn Heights’ past: the St. George Hotel.
ATLANTIC AVENUE — Exhausted shopper with cluster of bags and goods from mall at Boerum Place stops to look at huge construction site across the street. “Is that REALLY going to be a jail??” Her male companion is reassuring, “Nothing like Rikers … this is 21st Century.”
BROOKLYN HEIGHTS — Overheard in line at one of most popular pastry outlets on Montague Street: “Hope I can get them into a camp …” A mother with two pre-schoolers in tow was showing a friend the Dodge Y flyer for Healthy Kids Day on Saturday, April 18.
