Today we’d like to introduce you to Retji Dakum.
Hi Retji, so excited to have you with us today. What can you tell us about your story?
I was born in Jos, Nigeria, and lived there until I was 15 years old. I attended high school in a town called Barkin Ladi, and at the end of 11th grade, my twin brother and I moved to America, specifically Cincinnati Ohio, where we lived with my aunt while we prepared for college. I have so many stories of culture shock from my time there. I attended college at The College of New Jersey, where I studied Digital Art, basically lens-based media, photography, and video.
While I got my bachelor’s degree, it was an adventure of making visual work for gallery spaces, creating experimental films, short documentaries, and still photography. Along the journey, I started my visual production company, Mukad Media, and then returned to Nigeria to complete my National Youth Service Corps program from 2017-2018. Afterward, I came to Baltimore, where I completed my Master of Fine Arts in Filmmaking from the Maryland Institute College of Art. This was where I honed my visual storytelling skills by working on fictional and non-fictional projects, as well as a short documentary for my capstone project.
Currently, I work as a video specialist at Baltimore City Public Schools, where I assist the district office with photography and video production for the office of communications, as well as schools across the city. I also supervise a student media team composed of students from several Baltimore City public schools to generate material that elevates the voices of young people. I am also in the festival phase of my first feature-length documentary, Nyam, which is about the cultures of my ethnic group, Mupun.
Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way? Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
There have been lots of hurdles, some high, and some low. My first struggle on this journey was adjusting to America when I first moved here. My aunt lived in a predominantly white community and the racism I was faced with was rather confusing because I wasn’t necessarily aware of what racism in America looked like.
This was also a time when being African wasn’t something people admired. I always had to face the reality of being an outsider anytime I went into spaces. Luckily because of how much my twin brother and I excelled in sports and art, it reduced the amount of racism we faced daily.
Another struggle I faced at different levels was how much I missed my culture, family, and community back home. Thankfully, this longing for my culture pushed me to do different things that ended up being very proud of. From making art about my culture to starting a student organization in college for African cultures, and creating my latest film.
I guess one thing this has taught me is that once I face an obstacle or struggle, I have to recognize that it may be an opportunity to create something I will be proud of in the future. Having that in mind has helped me get through a lot.
There’s also the financial challenge that life and capitalism offer, which has made it tough to navigate spaces as an independent artist, but that challenge has also made me very creative.
Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your work?
I’m an interdisciplinary artist and because of that, I am known by different people for different reasons. Most people know me for the visual production services I offer, some people know me for filmmaking, others know me for the music I make and a few know me for mentoring students from schools across Baltimore. My core practice has been filmmaking, specifically documentary filmmaking, but I consider myself an artist first before any genre or medium is involved.
I have received different accolades for the different art forms I practice but what I am most proud of, which may be what sets me apart, is always being drawn to projects or movements that have a goal of educating the public about cultures descending from Africa. That has been consistent for the past decade with the stories I participate in telling, or the organizations I have aligned with.
How can people work with you, collaborate with you, or support you?
Anyone who would like to work with me, collaborate, or support me can contact me via the contact page on my website www.retji.com.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.retji.com/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/retji/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/mukadng
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@RETJIDAKUM
- SoundCloud: https://soundcloud.com/retji
- Other: https://www.mukadmedia.com/
Image Credits
Boobsweatfilms, Retji, Khamaree Owens, and Moses Adeleke
