step into 18-year-old greenville-based illustrator maya ajani’s smoke-filled fantasy world

Check out 18-year-old Greenville-based visual artist Maya Ajani’s stoner fantasy illustrations for headwrap-wearing, incense-burning, black soap-washing, Apple Cider Vinegar-using black girls and femmes. In Ajani’s world of hazy nonsense, getting lit in the bathtub turns into soaking in a giant of ramen and the world outside turn to floating ecosystem. Maya’s otherworldly images are made up of dreams where the spiritual worlds of ritual, self-care, friendship, and herb-induced enlightenment intersect. “My illustrations incorporate spiritual/fantasy elements into it that represents many of my spiritual beliefs,” Ajani tells AFROPUNK. “The characters in my drawing typically look like my friends and I because representation is important. Growing up as a black/biracial girl it was rare to find characters in tv shows and other forms of media that resembled me.” See some of Maya’s work, below!

“Summoning Friends”

“The Feels”

“They Want Us to Die Slow”

“Ramen Mami”

“Smoke Sesh”

http://mayaajani.tumblr.com/
https://www.instagram.com/preadolescentboy/
https://twitter.com/mayaajani

*Erin White is an Atlanta-based writer and AFROPUNK’s editorial and social media assistant. You can follow her on Tumblr or friend her on Facebook. Have a pitch or an inquiry? Shoot her an email at erin@afropunk.com.