Meet Donjai
Around 2008, Donjai began his journey in Harlem as an artist and community member connecting people throughout the neighborhood. He says, “I spent a bulk of my life in Hunts Point. I moved to Hunts Point when I was four years old. Prior to that, we lived on 157th and Amsterdam, and my family was expanding, and... the Bronx was freshly burnt down, and the buildings that we moved in were… new, three bedroom, two bathroom at the time. These buildings are still standing, thank God… We moved to Hunts Point in 1990, and then around 2008, I started to come back around Harlem. I worked in Harlem Market. A couple years after that, [I] wound up getting an apartment.” His first apartment in Harlem was on the East Side or El Barrio. Moving there felt “just right” to him, he describes the community as “lovely, authentic… homegrown, not industrialized, not commercialized.” He had friends throughout Harlem from high school who embraced him and helped him create ties to the community. Through working at Harlem Market he created bonds and connections that helped him professionally as a photographer as well.
He has been able to find community everywhere, “I just had this conversation the other day about one of the libraries on the east side being shut down, renovated, and we were talking about safe havens… I believe the libraries are about to open back up on Saturdays and Sundays, and I feel like even that's a community. Whether it's people who may be homeless or suffering mental conditions or they may not be in the best shape of life, you have that community… In more places than you can imagine. I think Harlem might have an easy point of... connection.” He says, “There's so many subcultures in Harlem and… people are bonded by… a common thread. You just have to figure out what that is. And more so than other places that I've traveled… I've been curious about asking people, 'Hey, don't you have a juice bar? Don't you have… a common place?' …I feel like we have pockets in Harlem that are, like… Second Avenue [starting] from… 122nd all the way to… 96th Street before you reach a Starbucks. There's nothing but a lot of home grown businesses. I mean, Ricardo's has been thriving for years... There's a sneaker store over there, a small boutique shop called Xclusive Arrivals. They've been thriving for years. But that whole strip of Second Avenue. I appreciate it, because there's no commercial business… There's authentic Mexican restaurants, juice bars... Harlem is very much like a melting pot, a place to find your tribe.” Donjai was able to form his tribe through the act of service, “I tell people all the time… to be a photographer… you have to think of yourself as… a memory maker, as somebody who's helping people communicate…”
“There’s so many subcultures in Harlem and… people are bonded by… a common thread. You just have to figure out what that is [for you]... Harlem is very much like a melting pot, a place to find your tribe.”
Reflecting on his start in Harlem he says, “I started photography at nine years old, and then by the time I started working at the Harlem market, I… was trying to figure out my purpose within… Harlem and documenting communities. A lot of rappers and hip hop people gravitated towards me, and… this was the time… the hybrid cameras came out, so everybody wanted music videos. So it was… a good time to work in Harlem, live in Harlem…” Harlem was a place for Donjai to find his voice as an artist and develop how he wanted to tell stories through his art, “I went back to school, to the International Center of Photography, at the time, and they were intrigued about the images that I was showing. And I realized every day… societal norms… when it's looked under the lens of people from different backgrounds… it might be more interesting to them than to me. I'm like, 'I see this all the time,' but at that time, when I was getting my work reviewed, it was pointing me in [the] direction of, it's not necessarily the photos that you take, it's the photos that you choose and… let the people see.” Harlem has a way of inspiring people and creating artists and tastemakers, Donjai believes the artistic significance of Harlem is “indescribable.”
Harlem became his “foundation”, “My personal story, [is] like… the Peter Pan, Never Never Land complex, it's kind of like a place I ran away to so I wouldn't grow up, in a sense… I think Harlem kind of preserved my youth. It definitely… put an emphasis on what having fun looked like. It definitely put an emphasis on being a creator and then making that journey to being a business minded creative. Because Harlem is like [the] home of the hustlers. And you'll get hustled. And I remember working in the market one time and somebody hiring me… to take photos, and they didn't like the photos, but… they wanted the photos and… their money back. It was just like, I got hustled… I think it's a feeling that kind of levels you up… Sometimes it can either shelter you or compel you to go harder… So I'm glad I got some of those lessons in Harlem… So… I would describe [Harlem as] a place I ran away to so I wouldn't have to grow up under harsh conditions. And then I found a way by just having a vision and… being useful. And I think God put all that in retrospect... When I was younger, doing photography, I didn't want to make money. I just wanted to take pictures. As an adult… certain things panned out where it's like, ‘Alright… this is what you love to do. You're going to be able to do what you love and make a living off it.’ And I think Harlem really put that in perspective.”
“When I was younger... I didn’t want to make money. I just wanted to take pictures. As an adult… certain things panned out where it’s like, ‘Alright… this is what you love to do. You’re going to be able to do what you love and make a living off it.’ And I think Harlem really put that in perspective.”
Donjai makes sure to give back as an artist as well, whether it is through providing advice for other artists to be more business minded and help them get their “just do,” teaching photo workshops, or setting up community photobooths for people to get photos on special occasions. He discusses his future goals saying, “I want to do more camera photo workshops. This summer, I've been partnering with different subcultures and groups. I did something with City Seminary [in Harlem]… We did a photo workshop [in their garden]. I brought in all the cameras... We did photo scavenger hunts where I bring in… 15 little elements, and they decipher what those elements mean to them by taking a photo of it… I also donated my time teaching. There's a studio space called Thompson Studios 125. So I taught with them two summers ago, and I had a lot of my personal cameras and other cameras donated… I recently purchased eight used Sony A6200s just so I could do more of these workshops… I want to continue [doing] more photo workshops because I think that's a common thread of building community….” More than anything he wants to see Harlem and small businesses in the neighborhood thrive. Donjai aims to continue supporting local businesses, telling stories through his art, supporting local artists, and serving his community as Harlem keeps developing and pushing forward.
