Meet Alyssa Cuffie Onuoha | Art Curator & Podcast Host

We had the good fortune of connecting with Alyssa Cuffie Onuoha and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Alyssa, what inspires you?
I’m inspired by a mix of creativity, culture, and storytelling across all mediums. Books have always been a guiding force for me. Lynda Barry’s What It Is shaped my entire visual arts style, and Alice Walker is someone I return to again and again. Lately, I’ve been revisiting The Temple of My Familiar and Hard Times Require Furious Dancing, both of which continue to shape how I think about identity, history, and resilience. I don’t usually reach for art books, but I picked up Carrie Mae Weems’ Kitchen Table Series recently, and flipping through it feels like stepping into a conversation about intimacy, power, and the nuances of everyday Black life.

When it comes to visual art, I’m currently drawn to the work of Aliyah Bonnette, Danielle McKinney, and Atigre Xia. Each of them captures Black womanhood through their own distinct lens, and engaging with their work pushes me to dig deeper into the stories artists are telling and the histories they’re preserving.

At the core of it all, I’m inspired by the ways art and storytelling bridge the past, present, and future—challenging us to see ourselves more clearly and connect more deeply.

Let’s talk shop? Tell us more about your career, what can you share with our community?
I’ve always been a creative. From duct tape crafts to junk journaling, I started making art seriously at a young age. My first exhibition was in high school when a woodcut print of mine was featured at the Milwaukee Museum of Art in a student showcase. That experience didn’t just make me fall in love with being in shows, it also sparked my fascination with the curation process itself.

In college, I didn’t study art but stayed deeply connected to the creative community. I was searching for arts opportunities but found that related internships were limited. So I started Womanifesto Magazine—not just as a way to highlight my creative friends but also as a way to strengthen my skills in design, copywriting, project management, and more. The magazine became a turning point in my creative career because it allowed me to build a deeper community with artists, not just as a fellow creative but as someone dedicated to uplifting the artistic community. Since the first issue in 2020, I’ve published five issues featuring nearly 75 creatives from around the world, all of whom were paid for their contributions.

The magazine laid the foundation for my larger goal of curating spaces. In 2022, I curated my first exhibition with VAE Raleigh titled Creating a Home, Not an Empire. I installed a fictionalized version of my grandmother’s living room in the middle of the gallery, with artwork on the walls reimagining the characters (my family members) within it. It remains one of my favorite projects to date because of the layers of storytelling I was able to weave throughout the space, down to the customized wallpaper I commissioned from Kinari Council, which visualized pieces of my family history.

Lately, I’ve been exploring podcasting as a new form of curation. I started The Durham Artist Archive as a way to document modern stories of Durham creatives and how they see the city changing around them. We explore themes of creative development, gentrification, and community engagement. Much like Womanifesto, this project has pushed me to meet new people, learn new skills, and deepen my understanding of topics like arts policy and gentrification.

And I’ve done all of this while working full-time in an unrelated field! My biggest challenge has been managing my schedule in a way that allows me to balance work, personal projects, and relationships. They may not get the same amount of time every day, but I work to ensure none are neglected. It’s so easy to put my personal projects on the back burner, but those are the things that make me shine and give purpose to my day. Staying committed to them is staying committed to myself. So one of the biggest lessons I’ve learned through all of this is to keep promises to myself. If I say I’m going to do something by Wednesday, I need to hold myself accountable—because when it comes to my creative work, no one else will.

If you had a friend visiting you, what are some of the local spots you’d want to take them around to?
If I were to take a friend to my favorite places in Durham on a Saturday, here’s where I’d take them:
We’d start our day downtown and get breakfast at The Durham Hotel. I’d probably do something light like their wintry mix coffee and a pastry. Then we’d go upstairs to visit the roof top and see the views of the city. This space is a lively bar in the evenings that often has live music but I love to visit when it’s quiet and I can see the city start to wake. Following this I’d explore downtown a bit visiting the galleries at the 21C hotel, Ella West Gallery, visiting The Grapevine Experience metaphysical shop, Dolly’s Vintage, and eventually making our way towards Durham Central Park for the farmers market.

While there are plenty of lunch options near the farmers market, my goal here is to highlight my favorite places in the city. So we’re going over to East Durham where we’ll get sandwiches from Ideals and then visit Rofihwa Bookshop and Middle of May Thrift. I’d keep my late afternoon open for recharging from the day of exploring but check out my favorite late night venues for what events are going on. I’d check the instagrams for Missy Lanes, Rubies on Five Points, Pinhook, Annexe, and Velvet Hippo to see what parties are going on and who’s DJing where. We’d party hop a bit based on vibes and end the evening with late night food from Queeny’s!

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
I have so many people I could shout out! I want to give a special should out to VAE Raleigh, the organization who not only gave me my first exhibition, but also helped me get connected within the local arts community.

I’d also love to shoutout all of the artists who were open to participating in the first season of my podcast, The Durham Artist Archive. That first group of 9 had little example to go off of regarding what the experience would be like and they came on open hearted and willing to share their experiences. Thank you to Anna Jeffries, Monet Marshall, Derrick Beasley, Sasss, Candy Carver, Destiny Hemphill, Eliza Redmann, Stormie Daie, and Kette Cates.

Lastly, I’d love to give a special thank you to my husband and sounding board, Alex Onuoha. Thank you for always being my #1 fan.

Website: https://alyssacuffie.com

Instagram: @alwhyssa

Other: Magazine/ Podcast Instagram: @womanifestomag
Podcast site: https://durhamartistarchive.substack.com
Magazine site: womanifestomag.com