Najha Zigbi-Johnson is an independent writer, educator, and cultural organizer. Her Harlem-based practice explores the intersections of the built environment, contemporary Black art, and social movements. She is the editor of Mapping Malcolm, a transdisciplinary publication that brings together artists, community organizers, and scholars to consider the politics of Black space-making in Harlem and across the diasporic world.
Currently, Najha’s work seeks to explore how Black political movements give way to cultural production and institution building. This ongoing inquiry is shaped by her roles lecturing in architecture and political science at the City College of New York, her curatorial work, and her writing practice. Najha’s work has been published by New York Magazine, Artforum, SEEN Journal, Essence, White Cube Gallery, and more.
portrait by Dondre Stuetley, 2025
Mapping Malcolm
“Mapping Malcolm upends the reductive political function of “mapping” as a form of capitalist and colonial cartography, and instead uses the term to refer to a synthetic interpretation of the international extents of Black diasporic thought — on freedom, religious enlightenment, political autonomy, and artistic expression.”
Charles L. Davis II
Editorial
Toyin Odutola On Style And Identity in "Ilé Oriaku" → Essence
Inside The Schomburg Centennial Festival → Essence
'Amy Sherald and the Politics Of Visibility → Essence
The Oma, Shop Harlem's Most Interesting Third Space → Essence
On Curator, Legacy Russell → Essence
Dr. Adrienne Edwards at the Whitney Museum → The Cut
The Women Who Run Harlem → The Cut
Who Ate Where→ New York Magazine
Publications
We Give Thanks to our Ancestors for Guiding Us Here → White Cube Gallery
A Note to the Artists on Malcolm X and Black Aesthetics → SEEN Journal
Clotilde Jimenez on his Fantastical Tragedy → Artforum
The Possibilities of Femme Centered Knowledge → ARTnews
On New Cosmologies and the Sacred → Volume Gallery
A Brief Reflection on Diasporic Temporality and the Ancestors → Voyages
Afrosurrealism and the Absurd →Voyages
Freedom School Magazine→ Harvard University