Story

As a scholar activist and visual artist, Stella Iman Dugall is inspired to produce art that incites thought concerning the decolonization of history, the present and future of the Africana Diaspora. As an ethnographic documentarian, she understands the present as an ever-evolving  door to the past and values the importance of native documentation of Black communities right at home and across the Diaspora.  

Her artwork is guided by anthropological methods as much as its inspired by personal experience. Undoubtedly, each project is influenced by the upbringing of two, often times, competing world views — her father, a Belizean immigrant and mother, daughter of two Black doctorate professionals. 

Stella Iman’s most recent work is her Master of Art’s Creative Thesis Project for San Francisco State University. Her Master of Arts in Visual Anthropology was earned through the completion of a short ethnographic film titled, Naturally Free, and user-guide produced to make aware the historical, cultural symbolism, individual motivations, benefits and challenges of wearing hair in its natural state, as expressed by a few Black women in San Francisco Bay Area. Naturally Free is currently on the film festival circuit. 

Overall, she seeks to produce artful content that educates, heals, humanizes and empowers POC women, activists, youth, and most other underserved yet, powerful groups.