ARTIST BIO

All About Tintawi

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Tintawi Charaka Kaigziabiher (b.1978) is a writer, doula, interdisciplinary artist, and an Olorisa of Yemoja born into a culturally diverse home in Northern New Jersey. Growing up in the New York City

metro area her parents exposed her to BIPOC historians, artists, traditionalists, and writers, by taking her to lectures, art exhibitions, and cultural events. Surrounded by strong familial personalities and self-taught artisans, she explored a variety of mediums including ballet

and African dance, ceramics, photography, crochet, and writing from a young age. Her ancestors are her inspiration. Her work is a voice and account of the African experience in the Diaspora.

Tintawi is married to a scientist and together they live in the rural high desert of Santa Fe New Mexico with their five creative children and a host of pets.

Tintawi’s art is functional ranging from cookware to ceremonial vessels and

tools, and crocheted garments to handbags. She is an independent artist with Vital Spaces, and her most recent artwork was presented in the Recentering Santa Fe “Social Structures” project; "Hand tools of Resilience," at Form and Concept; and " Wild Pretty" a solo exhibition. Tintawi is currently working on a series of ceremonial rattles and an adobe house of prayer, a project that will take her on many physical and spiritual journeys.