CEDAR RAPIDS, IA. – On the stage, on the canvas, behind a microphone, in person and over five different thriving professional careers in 20 years — and now, in the library — Akwi Nji radiates empowerment.
Nji, the new “artist in residence” for the Cedar Rapids Public Library, has been a successful realtor, shaped the minds of language arts students for 11 years, and served as the public face for two of Iowa’s largest school districts in Cedar Rapids and Waterloo.
She founded a groundbreaking spoken word nonprofit, The Hook, through which she helped mentor other writers and artists.
Last summer, she released an artistic short film in poetry and memoir form that was shown at New York Fashion Week and Iowa City’s FilmScene. Earlier this year, she won the Iowa Book Prize and will be published in April.
Earlier this month, Nji became part of a team that will guide new architecture in the Cedar Rapids public school system for which she used to be communications director.
She’s been featured at speaking gigs, art shows and panels nationwide. Through the end of March, her work is also among 12 Black artists featured at the Cedar Rapids Museum of Art. She’ll conduct a nationwide tour in coming months that will take her to Des Moines, Decorah, Ohio and more.
But behind all that success is a complex and intersecting survivor story.
Multimedia artist Akwi Nji, based in Cedar Rapids, is the new Artist in Residence for the Cedar Rapids Public Library.
Childhood illness, racial isolation, and a family thousands of miles apart
While growing up in Cameroon, Africa, Nji coped with repeated bouts of malaria and was plagued with another mystery illness that only cleared when she moved to the United States. She was shy, introverted and quiet until about age 13.
Her mom’s relocation to tiny Springville, Ia., while her father stayed in Cameroon left her feeling like a constant outsider – too white to be considered Black, and too Black to be considered white. She went from being wealthy in Africa, to being considered “poor” in Iowa.
Nji is the middle kid of seven total siblings from three different family units. She’s a single parent of two kids. And as an artist who now has earned recognition in five different mediums – poetry, spoken word performance, visual art with textiles and found objects, a painter, and screen-writing – Nji says she’s worked hard to overcome “imposter syndrome” many times.
Nji titled this piece “Breathe” and created it shortly after the murder of George Floyd in 2020. It’s on display at the Cedar Rapids Museum of Art through the end of March.
All of her work and roles are part of Nji’s two life passions: collaboration, and “an insatiable curiosity about communication, in the broadest sense.”
“It’s the foundation of everything I do,” says Nji. “I’m always focused on communication, and rhetoric. We need to still it down to the very core of what that is: How do we use words and symbols to elicit a feeling in someone else?”
Nji reached turning point after George Floyd’s 2020 murder
A key turning point in Nji’s life was the summer of 2020, right after George Floyd’s May 29 murder. She remembers leaning on her kitchen island, shaking, while her daughter watched with concern.
“I was angry that something so many of us artists had been trying to call attention to, racial injustice … something artists had been trying to address for decades, to crickets …. was not being acknowledged.”
It was the moment she decided, “I’m not going to use my voice. I’m going to use my hands.”
Within months, Nji decided to leave her post at the time as a spokesperson for the Cedar Rapids public school district. She became immersed in her visual art. She also made it a priority to collaborate with other artists, especially Black artists.
Akwi Nji works on a piece titled ‘cypress.’
This included her project this past summer: “cor • re • spond • ence.” Melding visual art, original R&B music, videography and research into letters between her mother and late father, the project also includes research into Egyptian hieroglyphics.
Nji recruited Cedar Rapids dancer and choreographer L.D. Kidd, also a childhood friend, to provide movement for the piece. She tapped designer, artist and musician Lyrikal TMG , founder of the Mic Check Iowa R&B nonprofit, to produce “cor • re • spond • ence.”
Collaborating with Nji was an inspiration, says Kidd.
“She exudes joy and compassion, and this desire to continually improve as an individual but also improve those that are around her,” Kidd says. “She likes to challenge the norm in all the ways that you think they need to be challenged.”
Thoughtfulness, passion have earned Nji respect
Friend and colleague Sarah Halbrook first connected with Nji’s art through The Hook, the spoken word nonprofit Nji founded in 2016, and as a mom. She’s also hired her frequently to help with promotions at the Indian Creek Nature Center.
“She is an incredible, thoughtful communications professional,” says Halbrook. “Her ability to create and think while still providing passionate communication plans is really second to none.”
Nji demonstrated her ability to create, think and express passion through the “Be Bold” campaign she created and led while serving as Waterloo’s public school spokesperson from 2021 to 2023. The effort encouraged students to celebrate their own promise.
She’s now running her own marketing firm, Powerful Over Pretty, while still building her art. She’s also a daily journaler.
Nji says she’s committed to the focus on thoughtful communication she began with “cor • re • spond • ence.” It’s a focus she believes is especially important in today’s era of overflowing communication through social media.
“The words we use to communicate are a form of currency and commerce,” Nji says. “When we feel as though there is an infinite supply of them, and the ways we can use them, we are far more frivolous with them.”
Her newest focus in art involves books, no surprise. Nji’s new arts collection incorporates book covers, including of banned books, and she’ll guide projects at the Cedar Rapids library that ask patrons to make their own art out of books.
Nji also plans to lead patrons in writing letters to their favorite characters and authors, to other readers, and to former or future versions of themselves.
Her first event as the Cedar Rapids Public Library artist in residence is 2 to 3 p.m. Saturday (March 2), when she’ll introduce her planned projects in the role. You can also see her work on display at the Cedar Rapids Musem of Art throughout the rest of March. In addition, listen to her album by clicking the QR code below.
Scan to hear Nji’s “Vibe With Me,” released in June.
Explore more about Nji at her arts website, Facebook page, or powerfuloverpretty.com.
(An earlier version of this article originally appeared in the October 2023 print edition of The Real Mainstream. Photos courtesy of Akwi Nji)
