Mercy Thokozane Minah

Digital oil painting of a character from the movie Sinners (2025), named Pearline. She is wearing a cream knee-length dress and is seen crawling across the floor of a wooden stage. A translucent set of glowing eyes and fanged mouth can be seen behind her overlayed with a full pink supermoon.

Pearline's Pale Moon Rising #SinnersMovie #Sinners #Pearline

If you actually give a shit about diversity and inclusion in the book community? You have to read INTENTIONALLY! This is one of the reasons I track my book data because I can go down my list of books I have read last year and note on what type of books I need to read more of.

Ta-Nehisi Coates in Seattle about the Democratic Party in this moment: “If you can’t stand up against genocide, why should I believe you can stand up for democracy?”

And there it is. Same holds for activists, writers, "free speech" orgs, arts institutions and everyone else who has been silent for 15 months.

I think I've found a way to articulate what bothers me about the trajectory of the modern tech industry (and to some extent... society).

We are on this Earth to provide for each other. That's the "mission" of humanity as I see it.

This is incompatible with what the tech industry seeks to do.

apples, painted by james marion shull, 1912

apples, painted by james marion shull, 1912

So someone asked me to retell the story of the old lady that told me about killing her husband. Are we ready for a trip back in time to 1999? Some of you already know this story, but if you don't it is a wild ride. Apply all appropriate trigger warnings!

burbank no. 2 plums, painted by deborah griscom passmore, 1900

burbank no. 2 plums, painted by deborah griscom passmore, 1900

digital oil painting featuring two Black queer lovers cuddled on a bed.

hello & welcome to everyone who's followed me onhere 😊💕 I'll be sharing art more frequently from March. but if you'd like to keep up with insights on new and retrospective work, I have a recently started Patreon. I'm also taking commissions for custom art 💋 www.patreon.com/MercyThokoza...

aw thank you boo! I appreciate the s/o onhere 🥺💙

Two dark skin Black queer women sitting on a couch. One kisses the other on the cheek. They are surrounded by plants, a laptop, record player and records of Nina Simone and Whitney Houston.

One of my favorite artists @iamafreedom.bsky.social is creating art of Black queer love. I want to highlight them this month. They are open for commissions now and I recently got mine back. Look at this literally gorgeous portrait of my wife and I. #blacksky #queersky

Text that reads: This exploration is not just an academic exercise, it's a journey to understanding how our relationship with time, attention and action shapes our very being. The modern era bombards us with stimuli, leading to fragmented and scattered perception. This constant influx of information, coupled with the demands of our work, has altered our relationship with time and attention. We've adopted multitasking, a skill often lauded as a hallmark of efficiency and progress.

Y’all, please read this Blinkist excerpt from The Burnout Society by Byung-Chul Han 🥹

words are a personal palette, in the mind and on paper... and the colors we choose to paint with will always be the most beautiful mystery, to me

Philly has beautiful murals all over the place. Here is one you can’t see from the ground - only from our hotel window

🥺.

thank u bb! 🥺

selfie of Mercy from the chest up, they are bald and wearing an olive green sweater. their hand is pressed against their cheek and sports three silver rings with gem stones on them.

pic of Mercy's hand placed on a closed sketchpad with a navy blue cover.

photo of Mercy's hand placed on an illustration of a pink flower on the first page of Mercy's sketchpad.

gifted myself a haircut, new sketchpad and pretty rings for surviving this wild ass year. #Blackskyover30 #art @bsky.art

a digital oil painting of two lovers seated/laying on a bed together. large watermelon halves are in the foreground.

will we all be free/the answer is always yes.
#art #lgbtqart @bsky.art #freedomart

Lying is so awesome. Crafting reality is usually the provenance of gods and kings, but with one word, I can be the most interesting person at a party, the highest ranking person at a meeting or the least qualified person currently operating heavy machinery.

I want to go on a fun date. Something active like dancing lol.

Some days I open my journal and begin with:
"I want to hurt someone so bad today, and ugly cry while doing it."

Whew... Life. 🤷🏾‍♀️😥

digital oil painting of two lovers dancing in their lounge.

if this world was mine, I'd take your dreams and make 'em multiply.
#art #lgbtqart @bsky.art #luther

🤭🥺

It’s okay to learn you were wrong to judge or to be annoyed or even just that your perspective was incomplete. What matters is how you move forward with the information.

There’s far too much “well I guess I can see that but I’m still annoyed.” What are you, 4?

the movement between extremes can feel so disorienting⸻and cause whiplash damn near⸻that it's hard to grasp that balance is still happening within that both-and.

i learn lessons about why love is important & hate too. why joy is important & anger too. why distance is important & closeness too. why it’s important to forgive & to withhold forgiveness. why considering others but never betraying yourself is important. so much balancing tryna get it just right.

i learn lessons of the opposite nature over & over until i conclude with a balanced perspective. swaying between two extremes often to know how choosing & sacrificing feels. learning what i need & want and what i could do without, what can’t coexist & what can. weighing and measuring right & wrong.

maybe the destination is this⸻safety, wholeness, correctness⸻and the ebbs in momentum are a continuous nudge toward there. maybe I haven't been able to capitalize on certain momentum bc that would have lead me further astray.
bsky.app/profile/iama...

and like⸻I'm grateful for my travel treasures⸻but where the hell am I going fr? lmao, and is it my business? am I meant to concern myself with where I'm headed or should I reserve my focus and energy on just paying attention to what my wants are in the present?