The proposed Cultural Ambassadorship would consist of four interwoven initiatives.
Embroidered rendering inspired by a detail from M'bor Faye's The Palaver Tree (L'arbre à palabres) (ca. 1970), in the style of Ashley's Sack.
“An intrinsic dimension of traditional African societies are the “palaver tree” meetings where communities used to converge and discuss issues of common interest.”
— Sylvia Tamale, Decolonization and Afro-Feminism (Ottawa: Daraja Press, 2020), p. 136.
We propose an extended dialogue between Tremaine Emory/ Denim Tears and the Descendants Forum throughout the Forum's founding year—one that unfolds across three conversations designed to build relationships, exchange ideas, and shape the partnership together.
Tremaine meets with Descendant Forum members to share the intellectual, historical, and ancestral foundations of his work, while reflecting on themes including ancestry and memory, the relationship between archives and creative practice, the significance of material culture, storytelling through fashion, and the creative processes through which Denim Tears transforms inherited histories into contemporary cultural expression.
Representatives from several Descendants Forum member organizations present their own histories. Rather than presenting to an audience, this session would function as a collaborative exchange, allowing Tremaine and Denim Tears to hear directly from Descendant communities about the histories they preserve and the futures they imagine.
Tremaine and the Denim Tears team present early concepts, themes, sketches, mood boards, or prototypes inspired by these conversations. Representatives from DF member organizations provide feedback, ensuring the collection reflects the values, histories, and aspirations of Descendant communities. This collaborative design process embodies one of the Forum's central commitments: Descendant participation in the interpretation of their own histories.
The Founding Collection: A limited-edition Denim Tears × Descendants Forum collection celebrating, commemorating, and helping to fund the founding of the Descendants Forum.
Rather than creating traditional conference merchandise, we propose the creation of a Denim Tears × Descendants Forum Founding Collection: a limited product line collaboratively envisioned and developed through dialogue between Tremaine Emory and representatives of Descendants Forum member organizations.
The DT x DF Founding Collection would be available to the public for a limited period of time before and after the Forum's Inaugural Convening (September 2027), giving supporters around the world an opportunity to celebrate—and directly support—the founding of the Descendants Forum.
A mutually agreed-upon portion of proceeds would support the Forum's Inaugural Convening, delegate travel scholarships, and the Descendants Forum's ongoing programs, growth, and long-term sustainability.
Together, the Descendants Forum and Denim Tears would explore the possibility of developing a collaborative exhibition inspired by the themes, relationships, and creative work that emerge through this partnership. Potential institutional partners could include the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture, The Metropolitan Museum of Art (The Met), university museums, community museums, cultural centers, and galleries.
Drawing upon the collaborative process itself, the exhibition could bring together Denim Tears garments, archival documents, Descendant oral histories, photographs, works of art, historical records, digital installations, and interactive storytelling. More than an exhibition about slavery, it would demonstrate how Descendants, artists, historians, and cultural institutions can work together to reinterpret the histories and legacies of slavery for contemporary audiences—transforming archives into dialogue, memory into art, and history into a living, collaborative practice.
From collaborations with artists such as Lauryn Hill to exhibitions at The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Tremaine Emory's work demonstrates how fashion can become a medium for history, memory, and cultural dialogue. A Descendants Forum × Denim Tears exhibition would extend that conversation through collaboration with Descendant communities.
The partnership would culminate at the Descendants Forum's Inaugural Convening in September 2027. As the Forum's Inaugural Cultural Ambassador, Tremaine Emory would be recognized during the opening ceremonies and featured prominently throughout the convening. Depending on our shared vision, his participation could include a keynote conversation, a fireside discussion, a moderated dialogue on fashion and historical memory, the unveiling of an exhibition installation, a public book signing, and/or participation in the convening's closing celebration.