Imani Noel Ford

MEET THE LEADER
A black and white close-up photo of a young man lying on a patterned surface, with short hair, well-groomed eyebrows, and a slight smile. He's wearing earrings and a shirt with large buttons and a textured pattern.
A black and white photo of a young woman with short hair, lying on her side and looking into the camera, with a dark background
Black and white photo of a person with short curly hair, wearing earrings and a textured sweater, sitting indoors near a curtain.

Imani Noel Ford (they/he/she) is a Black, trans*, neurodivergent interdisciplinary artist, independent art critic, writer, and arts educator from Chicago’s South Side.

Their practice spans music production, video art, watercolor painting, creative writing, movement research, and performance, exploring Black trans embodiment and flesh as healing technologies and sites of knowledge production.

Imani holds degrees in African American Studies and Visual Arts (Sculpture) from Princeton University (2018), and an M.A. in English & Comparative Literature from Columbia University (2020), where they studied black female avant-garde dance performance and African Diasporic Aesthetics.

Imani has been practicing Vipassana and Anapanasati for nearly a decade. They are Reiki II attuned. As of February 2026, Imani is a Focalizing Practitioner, trained by Nick Werber and Joanna Miller. They are a board member for the nonprofit Dem Bois, Inc.

A person poses with their head resting on their hand, wearing a tie-dye shirt, looking directly at the camera with an inquisitive expression, in black and white.
A nonbinary person with a tie-dye long-sleeve shirt lying on their side with his head propped up, looking directly at the camera. They have short hair, and the photo is in black and white.
A person with short hair resting their head on a wooden surface with their eyes closed.
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