We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Adia Jamille a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Adia , looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. We’d love to hear about the things you feel your parents did right and how those things have impacted your career and life.

Growing up my mother always expressed the importance of doing something that you love. She would say, “If all the jobs paid the same, what would you choose? And that’s what you should do.” She explained to me that money can only do so much. That if you truly did not enjoy your career, the money won’t be able to keep you there forever. And I think we see that time and time again, as people shift career paths. Instead my mother taught me to focus on the things that I love, that keep me excited, and that I want to do, even when I don’t want to work. I was taught to focus on doing things I loved and that eventually the money would come. Over the years I tried to be “responsible” and make the career choices that seemed most wise while building my family, but ultimately what’s led to my most successful experiences have come when I’ve chosen to follow my passions and create the answers I felt lacking in the community around me.

Adia , love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?

I first was introduced to natural dyes, etc while doing my undergraduate degree. Since graduation I dabbled here and there. I have also almost always had some sort of garden. As my art practice grew I started experimenting more and more with natural dyes. As my garden grew I started seeing how much potential for dye materials there were just within a regular garden. As I shifted more towards natural dyes I realized how important it was to source my own materials to ensure a sustainable practice, and to not contribute to over harvesting and price gouging of natural materials in their indigenous communities. As we successfully grew more and more plants (for food, medicine, and art) we realized how important it would be to save the seeds. Because it not only allowed us to save money, but it allows us to cultivate more plants that are adapted to the current climate conditions, which is essential to a sustainable practice. As we grew in that knowledge we wanted to share that within our community. So now we help empower our community by showing them how to use the plants that we grow, and how to save their own seeds for the future. And we’re able to provide desert adapted seeds that are able to thrive even during the hottest summers.

For you, what’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative?

I absolute love the process of having an idea, creating my materials, and then creating a piece of art. It’s always a surprise how it will finally turn out, because the combination of a human hand and textiles is always moving and shifting. It’s always amazing to get a whiff of an idea and then watch it unfold. And then placing that final stitch and knowing that it’s done. The relief of knowing you were able to execute a new idea. Of creating something that has never existed before. It’s amazing and thrilling.

What do you think is the goal or mission that drives your creative journey?

My goal is a reeducation and a reclamation of ancestral traditions. Not just for myself, but to inspire others to think about who their ancestors really were, not just in the abstract, and which skills, talents, ambitions came from them. And how they can answer the prayers and wishes of those ancestors simply by following those interests that connect them to their past, present, and future. It’s a decolonization process as we refocus our goals outside of the framework of capitalism and start to think about how we weren’t the first in our lineage that has had these goals and ideas. And how we can do our own thing, while simultaneously following their footsteps.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.adiajamille.com and www.orohouse.org
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/adiajamille https://www.instagram.com/orohousetucson
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/AdiaJamilleShop https://www.facebook.com/OROhousetucson
• Other: tiktok: @AdiaJamille @OROHouseTucson

Image Credits

Adia Jamille