Reframing Cocoa and the Colored Farmers Who Produce It
If you are a Tumblr kid from the 2010s era, prior to the Instagram reign and thus feel into the category of “hipster Black kid” you are most likely a follower of Street Etiquette, the men’s fashion and lifestyle website turned creative agency. If you are a kid of the African diaspora you may have watched one half of Street Etiquette a tad more closely. The photographer that captures melanin-rich skin, as no one else can, entrepreneur and now co-founder of the culturally diverse stock photography company TONL, Joshua Kissi.
Recently, I had the pleasure of attending the debut of REFRAMED, “Cocoa & Color” an exposition collaboration with “Tony’s Chocolonely”.
Kissi’s work and photography, in particular, aim to empower creatives and marginalized people that rarely have accessor spaces to share their unique stories. His latest endeavor merges his desire to humanize Black bodies through photo through his artistic eye with “Tony’s Chocolonely” global mission.
Upon walking into the main event, one could feel the warmth and desire of people of color to learn more about an industry we’ve heard was in existence because of the abundance of cocoa in Ghana but may have never delved into learning the intricate processes.
Picture pounds of chocolate, chocolate people, Afrobeats bumping by DJ GFlamee, heard over the informed conversations from the diverse crowd. I was compelled to hit my azonto until I feasted my eyes on the perfumed * Ghanaian * jollof rice and suya, by Gold Coast NYC dessert table by Kelewele and an open-bar all in one Okayspace to bring awareness and spread the word on the abolishment of systems of servitude in West Africa. It was unlike any other art show or museum event I’ve ever attended.
On “Tony’s Chocolonely”
On the outside the Okay Africa space, in Brooklyn “Tony’s Chocolonely” mobile truck set up, what to me seemed like their version of Charlie’s Chocolate Factory, with sample tasting of each and every one of their delicious chocolates. Now, Tony’s is unlike any brand of chocolate we’ve heard of over the years because their mission statement is to be the culprits to a world where the production of chocolate is 100% slave free.
“Crazy About Chocolate, Serious About People”
Not only is “Tony’s” chocolate delicious, I know because there was enough chocolate at the event to make even the greatest chocolate’s lover stomach turn, but the company prides itself on being 100% slave free, inviting others to join them to make “slave-free” chocolate the norm. “Tony’s Chocolonely” works with cocoa farmers in Ghana and Ivory Coast and makes it a point to not use child slaves or exploit farmers in West Africa.
REFRAMED
“Cocao & Color” by Joshua Kissi
Kissi took a trip to Tony’s Cocoa farms in Ghana and Ivory Coast and had the chance to meet and spend time with the farmers, placing faces to the very reason “Tony’s” is able to create such delicious chocolate. As a Ghanaian-American, Kissi explained his calling to share the stories of Africans in and of the diaspora in all avenues and display these untold narratives of culture through art.
Instead of ordinarily taking a trip back to the motherland, with ”Tony’s Chocolonely”, Kissi shares that it was important to visit Suhum, a place where many might not visit as much as commercial areas like Accra), but that hold equal value, to capture different perspectives and another piece of the culture.
Thank you to Joshua Kissi and “Tony’s Chocolonely” for such an empowering event.
“The more people chose slave free and share our story, the sooner 100% slave-free becomes the norm in chocolate. The choice is yours. Are you in?”
-Tony Chocolonely
Learn more about their global mission on https://tonyschocolonely.com/us/en
