A visionary cultural worker practicing at the intersection of the environmental, climate, and food and land justice movements.

About Zakia

"When we love the Earth, we are able to love ourselves more fully. I believe this. The ancestors taught me it was so."

— bell hooks,“Touching the Earth” (Orion Magazine, 1996)

Press

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Media

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Public Engagement

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Press • Media • Public Engagement •

Recent Works & Offerings

Dreams, Nightmares & Everything In Between

Dreams, Nightmares & Everything in Between opens Thursday, May 14, 2026 at Luster Gallery + Studio with an opening reception from 6–9 PM.

An evening exploring fantasy, fear, memory, and the spaces in between through the work of Varvàra Fern, Kelly Seim , Mel Rosen, DeVaughn Jerrell, Leah Pandiscia, Gabi Madrid, Zakia M. Elliott, Marius Andres, Emily Smith, Maryam Adib, Chanelle René, Brady Pappas, D'Mia Britton, Aeva McLellan, Chelsey Luster, Margaux McAllister, Ozodinobi Onyeabor.

Curated by founder and director Chelsey Luster. Exhibition on view through July 11. 

"Artist spotlight: Zakia M. Elliott. Philadelphia-based artist Zakia M. Elliott’s work centers ritual, healing, and liberation. Rooted in her work as an organizer and educator, her practice explores identity, vulnerability, and the transformative pow
"Dreams, Nightmares & Everything in Between explores fantasy, fear, memory, and the spaces that exist between them through the work of Varvàra Fern, Kelly Seim, Mel Rosen, DeVaughn Jerrell, Leah Pandiscia, Gabi Madrid, Zakia M. Elliott, Marius Andres
"The deadline may be approaching, but the impact of the Black Artists Fellowship lasts a lifetime. We asked a few of our past fellows: How did the fellowship impact your career or creative journey? Their answers speak to growth, opportunity, and tran
"Set along the Tapajós River in the Amazon, the film explores Munduruku cosmology, where humans are believed to have transformed into elements of the forest. The evening will conclude with a post-screening Q&A featuring Gabriella Watson-Burkett (film
"That’s a wrap on our Artist Appreciation Month Live Artist Talk with members of our 2025 Black Fellowship Cohort — @taylored__faces, @jollivierre, and @zakiamichelle. We explored their journeys, practices, and the power of creating a vibe while bu
"Zakia M. Elliott, who had two pieces on display titled “She Came to Me Free” and “Anima Mundi: A ReIntegration,” is also a local environmental activist. She’s always been an artist, but has been trying to bring her artistic skills back to the forefr
"The featured artists include ASHY ARTT, Kameo Chambers, Prince De León, Temple Douglass, Keiko El, Zakia M. Elliott, Jermaine Ollivierre, Malayah Reynolds, Jazlyne Sabree, Tisha Taylor and Levester Williams."
Zakia Elliott, Sonia Galiber, and Suad Mana review six critical resources have helped guide us through the inevitable messiness from shaping the future while simultaneously dismantling the existing conditions. Published in The Land, Food, and Freedom
This piece is inspired by Zakia Elliott's collaborative work with Soil Generation and their forthcoming publication, "Soul ReIntegration: An Artistic Self Exploration & Healing Journey Curriculum Guidebook." She engaged in her personal ritual of taro
Zakia M. Elliott is announced to be a 2025 cohort member of the Mural Arts Philadelphia Fellowship for Black Artists.
Zakia Elliott, during the Climate Justice Alliance's 2024 Black Caucus Jubilee: "Nothing can stop the water! ...and that's how I feel about us."
Zakia Elliott and Sonia Galiber of Soil Generation, featured in "Future Visions Lab" documentary, Episode 6: Environmental Justice (2024)
Zakia Elliott, Soil Generation is awarded the 2022 Sustain PHL Sustainability Next Gen Award
“Racial justice and transit justice, they’re all tied up together,” said Elliott. “Transit issues are an environmental justice issue.”
The oral histories collected from the workers of AFSCME DC 33 Local 427 is a collaboration with Professor Alison Kenner of Drexel University’s Philadelphia Health & Environment Ethnography Lab and Zakia Elliott of Philadelphia Climate Works
“The issues that we’ve been talking about in the 1860s are still the issues that we’re talking about today,” said Zakia Elliott, coordinator of the Philadelphia Climate Works coalition and the lead organizer of the event. “Who is able to ride our tro
"We must continue mobilizing for change not despite our frustrations and sorrows but because of them. Climate change is a social justice issue. As such, we must amplify our voices, not silence them." - Zakia Elliott