As a multidisciplinary artist, my work spans mixed-media art, filmmaking, spoken word, and writing. Inspired by my journey from high-stress careers in digital communications, investment banking, and law to the healing arts, I use my creations to foster self-discovery and emotional wellness. My artwork incorporates archetypes, female reproductive health issues, mindfulness, poetry, storytelling, world cultures, and ancestral legacies, reflected in my collages, drawings, paintings, photography, poetry, short silent films, wire sculptures, and videos.
“Creativity is my sacred birthright to surrender to and become a willing vessel for the divine Oneness, angels, loving + wise + well ancestors, master teachers, spirit guides, and ORISHAS that live inside of me. Creativity is my sacred birthright to allow myself to come undone and become vulnerable in a safe and sacred space in my heart. Creativity is my sacred birthright to release my inner critic’s fears, doubts, judgments, and censorship. Creativity is my sacred birthright to trust and listen to my intuition as it marries my imagination. Creativity is my sacred birthright to embrace, explore, and express my TRUTH with curiosity, ease, grace, gratitude, and joy. Creativity is my sacred birthright to be FREE in a way that honors the fullness of my being as I move through this sixth decade of existence on Mother Earth.” Ananda Leeke, multidisciplinary artist
In 1995, I debuted my “Divine Divas” wire sculptures, transforming coat hangers and everyday objects into symbols of beauty and resilience. My work has been exhibited in Los Angeles, California, New York City, Washington, D.C., and beyond, and featured in Heart and Soul Magazine. I also create art inspired by African spirituality and healing traditions, showcased in my books, scarves, galleries, and public collections. (see below).
I blend my artistic practice with community engagement, aiming to inspire others to embrace art as a tool for healing and transformation.
From 2001 to 2018, I served as an artist-in-residence for Smith Center for Healing and the Arts at Howard University Hospital (2003-2010) and Walter Reed National Military Medical Center (2010-2018).
One of my favorite art projects was making cards welcoming President Barack Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama to Washington, D.C. in 2009.
Several patients and staff at Howard University Hospital had the idea of making cards.
We used magazine clippings, construction paper, crayons, colored pencils, and magic markers to create several cards during a two-week period in January 2009.
It was powerful to watch everyone create and write their messages filled with positive energy and wisdom. I mailed the cards with African American postage stamps (per the request of the patients and staff).
Click on the links below to see some of the artwork I created with Howard University Hospital and Walter Reed patients, military families, and staff.
During the global pandemic, I began working with a therapist, creative business coach, ancestral healing coach, and human design professionals. My healing work inspired my current work of collages, drawings, photography, wire sculpture, and videos that illustrate my archetypes, ancestors, spirit guides, and Yoruba Orishas. See below.
The global pandemic also gave me an opportunity to work with Garnet Jay (Jackson), music producer, composer, and founder of Footprint Productions, on my debut spoken word album, “Thriving Mindfully as Theresa’s Daughter.” Our collaborative journey began in 2020 with the support of the Internet. In 2023, I traveled to London, England, to record the spoken word portion of the album with Garnet at BonaFideStudio. We released the album and held a virtual listening party on the New Moon in Scorpio on November 20, 2025.
Thriving Mindfully As Theresa’s Daughter braids Jazz, Soul, Afrobeat and Funk into warm, breathing grooves that explore embodiment, ancestry, mindfulness, soft living, wellness, and renewal. It pays homage to my mother and loving + wise + well ancestor, Theresa B. Gartin Leeke.
Listen to and buy the album on Bandacamp, Apple Music, YouTube Music, and all streaming platforms except Amazon and Spotify. When you buy the album on Bandcamp, Ananda Leeke, Garnet Jay, and Footprint Productions earn more profit on each sale as independent artists. Please support our effort!
Listen to Thriving Mindfully As Theresa’s Daughter album and watch videos.
In 2023, Zawadi African Arts Gallery invited to exhibit three Afro-Brazilian Candomble-inspired wire sculptures that celebrate Oxum (Oshun, the goddess of fresh water and rivers, love, fertility, beauty, pleasure, sexuality, creativity, women’s self-empowerment, adornment, diplomacy, purity, wealth, and prosperity) and Iansa (Oya, the goddess of winds, storms, radical change, feminine strength, death, and transformation) in Washington, D.C. I also participated in a Women’s History Month discussion about Black women artists’ creative journeys at Zawadi.
Click the button below to watch the conversation I had with Irene Whalen, the founder and owner of Zawadi, and Tonya Adejoke Butler-Truesdale, an artist.
In 2024 and 2025, my Iansa/Oya and Oxum/Oshun wire sculptures were featured in the 44th Annual Black Doll Show’s “in need of good folk. “MAGIC FOLK LIKE US” at the William Grant Still Arts Center in Los Angeles, California.
Experimenting with Short Silent Films
Inspired by the artistry of Oscar Michaux, the first major African American filmmaker to produce a silent feature film in 1919, I began creating short silent films with my Android phone and Canva graphic design tool in 2025. Watch my three short silent films below.
Present Moment Acceptance (April 2025) is a short silent film that inspires and encourages people to practice their birthright of mindfulness. It is based on a poem with the same title that is published in That Which Awakens Me, my mindful creativity memoir (available on Amazon).
Chakra Castle Sanctuaries of Sustenance (April 2025) is a short silent film honoring the power and presence of rooms in my home that I transformed into sacred spaces of silence, softness, sleep, sweetness, and sensuality over the past 35 years.
Honoring Mama Yemanja and My Mother Theresa in Salvador da Bahia, Brasil (April 2025) is a short silent film that documents two sacred trips I made to participate in the Yemanja Festival in Salvador da Bahia in 2023 and 2025. During my 2023 trip, I honored the beginning of my second Saturn Return and 58th birthday. My 2025 trip gave me an opportunity to honor my 60th birthday and mother Theresa’s ancestral spirit.
Creating Ancestral Medicine Collection of Digital Collages in 2026
In honor of the 100th anniversary of Black History Month (which is celebrated every day of every year), I am using Februllage, an annual collage challenge, to create my Ancestral Medicine collection of digital collages that celebrate my loving + wise + well ancestors on my mom Theresa B. Gartin Leeke’s side.
The time I spend with these ancestors helps me tap into their legacy of resilience. I claim and call it my ancestral legacy of resilience. Ancestral legacy of resilience is the strength of the people in my family, community, and culture who overcame adversity, faced challenges, and navigated change. They are my sheroes, heroes, and theyroes.
My ancestral connections and legacy of resilience are helping me take better care of myself and navigate the changes that are happening in America. They increase my confidence and trust in myself because I know that I know that I know I am guided, protected, and provided for by Creator and a cadre of ancestors.
Their presence reminds me to give myself more grace, release the judgments from my inner critic, face some areas of my life I have felt stuck in or shamed about, ask for help, and improve the way I manage my home and financial well-being with support from my financial advisor.
My digital collages represent the visual manifestation of my spoken word songs, “Ancestral Medicine” and “Theresa’s Daughter” that are featured on my debut album, Thriving Mindfully As Theresa’s Daughter.
As you look at them, I invite you to listen to my songs. Click the buttons to hear the songs on YouTube.
Ananda Leeke 