Meet the Abundance of Youth team | Community Exhibition

We had the good fortune of connecting with Abundance of Youth and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Maybe we can start at the very start – the idea – how did you come up with the idea for your Abundance of Youth?
Abundance of Youth was an idea envisioned back in the summer of 2021 in San Diego, by two neighbors/bestfriends Noun Abdelaziz and Fatuma Fadhil (Uma) after attending a local gallery event organized by another known creative in the city. Fatuma and Noun sat outside the gallery at the end of the event and asked each other, “why don’t we do something like this? Just bigger, and more inclusive?”. In that moment that paused and asked each other to say the first word that came to mind. Noun shouted “abundance” and Fatuma shouted “youth”. And that was the beginning of the Abundance of Youth. Since then, they both entertained the idea for a few months, just back and forth visions of what AOY could be. Many people in the city started to ask and wonder what “AOY” was, word was going around, and around that time Noun and Uma started to pitch the idea to creatives around the city, and outside the city. Slowly, AOY reached Arizona, San Francisco, New York, Minnesota, Los Angeles, London, Egypt, Germany, Hawaii, Dubai, and France. Shortly after the word got out, the AOY team, which included 7/8 of the creatives, dropped a promotion video on January 31st 2022 displaying what AOY is. The 1 minute promotion video blew up with 20k+ views and over 300+ shares in a matter of a week. It received a lot of love from local and international artists, one being rapper named Kalan frfr. Following the 7 month period from January till the exhibit date July 30th, the AOY team worked tirelessly on promoting AOY, prepping their creatives, planning the event, while building their own projects for the show. “Our identities don’t always allow us the luxury of indulging in our creative endeavors entirely, because there is barely any space for people like us, with marginalized identities.” That is why AOY has selected non-binary, fem, immigrant, indigenous, Black, first generation, Muslim, and all marganilized identities to be the creatives for the first community exhibition. Presently AOY has gained 400+ continuous supporters on their instagram, created a clothing line, and reached people worldwide with a powerful message “there’s abundance in collective creativity, when there is no space MAKE space”. All of this was birthed from a single conversation from two powerful Muslim Black women; Noun and Uma.
“Abundance is a word that we use to encompass everything. So as an indigenous Black woman, the most fundamental part of life is its abundance. We do not live in a mentality of scarcity, because that derives from the systems of greed and capitalism. So abundance encompasses the idea of wholeness, of community, of collectivism.”- NOUN

“Now, if you take a look at all of the AOY creatives (the lineup of creatives in AOY exhibition) all of them literally come from different forms of youth, different intersectional communities. To reiterate the circle in AOY’s logo, it goes full circle, because these people are our everyday people. We want to highlight everyone’s youth because for all of the creatives, I see everyone’s project kind of corresponds with who they are and to who they were when they were younger as the source of their inspiration.” -UMA

AOY aims to shelter creatives in different mediums of art from international and local cities. AOY is a movement founded by ethical sustainability. It embraces abundance; a fundamental indigenous philosophy which honors the power of collectivism within creativity. Abundance allows us to take space, and pulls us away from scarcity and tactics of fear, stemming from systems of greed. AOY honors youth, who are at the forefront of this movement, to take up space through their artistic outlets as a tribute to their younger selves. As a community, we must mobilize our abundance and the preservation of our youth.

Can you open up a bit about your work and career? We’re big fans and we’d love for our community to learn more about your work.
UMA – Fatuma Fadhil (Uma) is a Kenyan Sudanese Muslim digital designer based in San Diego, CA. “I am the creator of the Uma Collection. I am a well known digital photographer and magazine designer in San Diego. I have collabed with local models, athletes, students, and social gathering. I have been invited to multiple public speaking events to share and educate youth on the different tools of graphic design. As a recent graduate educator with a Bachelor’s degree in Liberal Studies, I take it upon myself to always be in spaces of teaching and knowledge. With these identities tied to my name, I want to take up space in the digital media industry as a tribute to those before me that were denied. My creative goal is to relate to my audience in hopes that they too see themselves within my art.

My journey began as soon as I was introduced to the fashion/media world as a young child. Stealing my cousins 17Teen Magazines, and watching shows like America’s Next Top Model and Gossip Girl really has inspired my style and how I express my art.”

NOUN – Noun Abdelaziz is an indigenous Sudanese & Egyptian poet. She is based in San Francisco, CA as a recently signed model. Noun started writing her earliest poems at the age of 12, and has been writing ever since, building an audience all over the world. Her work since then has been featured in articles, launch parties, podcasts, and performed recently at the Institute of Contemporary Arts San Francisco (ICASF). Noun’s poetry touches on the idea of home and the nuanced experiences of it as a tribute to her inner child. She’s currently working on launching her first book next year titled “where’s home”. She’s currently a health policy expert studying sociology, and was recognized as the 2020 Honorary Scholar by American Heart Association. Alongside, the U.S. News as the “Citizen of the World”. Noun believes that abundance allows a home for creativity, because “we are continuous stories telling stories, and from that we find home, a community”.

If you had a friend visiting you, what are some of the local spots you’d want to take them around to?
-Soul Sunday -Future is Color
-Chollas Lake
-Annie’s trail park
-Ali’s chicken
-Living Room Cafe
-Lightbulb Cafe
-North park Bird Park
-Solana Beach
-Pho Ca Dao
-Pappalecco
The Shoutout series is all about recognizing that our success and where we are in life is at least somewhat thanks to the efforts, support, mentorship, love and encouragement of others. So is there someone that you want to dedicate your shoutout to?
Abundance of Youth wouldn’t be what it is today if it wasn’t for the endless community support. A community I would like to shout out is the San Diego and San Francisco communities. AOY would also like to shout out to the AOY Team: Noun Abdelaziz, Fatuma Fadhil, Huda Ahmed, Yaya Khatib Villarreal, Mars, Noura Ibrahim, Sarahi Millian, and Lena Hyasat. Honorary mentions: Henri, Colorfest, Institution of Contemporary Art San Francisco (ICASF), Kalan frfr, and the Bay Area Crew. We also want to honor all of our creative mentors and teachers that have showered us with wisdom and endless support. Sponsored by local community grassroots organizations such as Borderlands for Equality and Inclusion, March for Black San Diego, and MidCity Council.

Instagram: @a.oy___

Other: Linktree: https://linktr.ee/abundanceofyouth

Image Credits
Fatuma Fadhil @Umas_photos Noun Abdelaziz