MacKenzie River Foy is a multidisciplinary artist, archivist and culture worker examining Black ecologies, histories and fictions. Her practice intertwines research, print and digital media, speculation and memory.
Photo by Alphonso Smith. Jr.
With a background in Black and queer worker organizing, MacKenzie has a storytelling practice rooted in radical imagination and collective work. Their understanding of the way stories shape culture grew over a decade of developing communications for local and national campaigns for ethnic studies, paid family leave, non-carceral public safety, union protections, and more. This, along with experiences working with food and on the land inspired her development of culinary fiction zine Village X. She served as the editor-in-chief for 10 issues of the zine while writing stories and producing short films expanding the culinary fiction canon.
MacKenzie has directed and supported productions for The Laura Coates Show on SiriusXM, Market Road Films, Sojourners Magazine, Reckon News and other non-profit organizations. Her recipe “Moses’ Waffles” was included in the 2021 Reclamation exhibit at the National Museum for Women in the Arts. She was awarded Best Director (DMV Short Film Festival) and Honorable Mention for Best Documentary Short (Workers Unite Film Festival) for her short film “Feed/back”. Her short film “Strike a Match” was a winner of the 2022 NAACP National Cinematic Shorts Competition.
When she isn’t off casting spells, MacKenzie works as a media strategist and producer, amplifying the stories of early career storytellers and growing brands.
Artist Statement
Inspired by the griot of West Africa, my storytelling is deeply connected to my roots, my stolen ancestors, my kin. I learn from them in oral histories, in recipes, in communing with the earth.
Across/against discipline, I experiment with the ways language assists in reconnecting Black communities to our indigenous identities, forges pathways for our stewardship of land, and builds momentum toward Black ecological futures. I am dedicated to telling the complex stories of my family and ancestors. My practice requires me to collaborate locally and globally with other artists, writers and memory workers; my work is driven by community engagement.
I am descended from generations of farmers, teachers, domestic workers, and small business owners. I’m from places called Virginia and South Carolina and Texas and Pennsylvania and New Jersey. There are parts of me I gave birth to, parts of me born in a chocolate city. All of me is currently living happily by the water in Susquehannock and Piscataway Territory, also known as Baltimore, MD.