ABOUT

C. Gypsi Lewis (she/they) is a Black and Brown queer femme born in New Orleans, Louisiana (Bvlbancha) of the Lewis, Thomas, Miller, (de)Leon, Ruiz, and Baham families.

Their praxis includes installation art, small batch herbal skincare goods brand Gypsi Jars skincare + alchemy, full spectrum birth support, reiki, herbal alchemy, urban gardening, and educational workshops. She’s served as a staff herbalist and teacher for over 7 years at Rosalie Botanicals. A nightlife and entertainment aficionado, Gypsi is a founding member of Ascendance, and a longtime collaborator of COUCHES. Most recently, she produced Live In America Festival at The Momentary Museum (2022) and The Gulf South Climate Justice Artist and Cultural Organizer Convening in New Orleans (2023).

Describing her work as necessary, expansive, and sacred, Gypsi’s growth is rooted in reverence for her Ancestors, Elders, and Community.

In 2019, they were a chosen visual artist to partner with Ashe’ Cultural Center and the University of Cincinnati to participate in an art exhibit entitled (Inter)SEX/SHUN/ALL. The works in this exhibit centered the experiences of LGBTQIA+ communities of Color and the New Orleans Police Department. In the Sring of 2020, they were invited back to Ashe’ to participate in the exhibit “Black Feminist: The Future Is Now” in honor of Women’s History Month. In 2021, Gypsi was named one of the artist for A Studio In The Woods’ artistic Replenish Residency program. During Gypsi’s residency, she used the time to reaffirm her relationship with the land and its medicines and also to develop a practice working with natural fibers and paper making.

Currently operating in her birthplace, a large part of Gypsi's vision is to reshape the self-care, healing, food and reproductive justice climates in communities of BIPOC, queer, and undocumented folx. On her own or in solidarity with several grassroots and healing justice organizations like The NOLA Herb Gathering, Samara Herb School, Women with A Vision, LLC , Rosalie Botanicals, New Orleans Musicians’ Clinic, and Black Trans Circles she's able to offer accessible and cathartic resources, support, and education.

GypsiJars skincare+alchemy was birthed in 2013 it’s energy has been an active governing presence in all of Gypsi’s projects since.