Yetunde Sapp Uncovers Unsung Labor in American Music

Yetunde Sapp at Heirloom Museum, 2025. Image courtesy of Gracie GK.

“I like to think that this work found me,” says Yetunde as we share a side of french fries in her Bushwick studio. At just twenty-five years old, antidisciplinary artist Yetunde Sapp has had work acquired by the Smithsonian; she has also been named a Gucci Changemakers Fellow and a Converse All-Star artist. Known for her groovy, vibrant portraiture, Sapp has refused to niche down, extending her practice to textile fabrication and design, set design, and public speaking. Now, she is exploring archival research, curation, and interactive installation. She has not stopped moving. This February, Yetunde combined these various disciplines to create her first fully immersive installation, Heirloom Museum (2025).

Visitors at Heirloom Museum on the opening night (2025). Image courtesy of Gracie GK.

I met Yetunde three years ago at an art show where she auctioned off her paintings in exchange for secrets. She had just begun tracing her family history. 

We sat down in her studio to discuss her process of researching and building The Heirloom Museum (2025), a five-room interactive installation that traces the journeys of matriarchs Rose Marie McCoy and Debby Moore, the artist’s maternal great-grandaunt and paternal great-grandmother, respectively. Both women had prolific careers as singer/songwriters in the mid-twentieth century. Yetunde’s archival research led to the discovery that McCoy and Moore were acquainted while living in New York. The Heirloom Museum, initially unveiled in SoHo, follows their individual and intertwining lives, from birth to death, revealing the two women’s collective impact on American music as a whole. In an interview with IMPULSE, Sapp discusses her archival process, perseverance, and the unsung legends who helped build the American sound.

Amanda SRGE_Lindsay: As a Parsons alumnus, you were trained as a fashion designer. Did you find any similarities between designing or fabricating textile works and your work as an archivist? Did any design skills lend themselves to collecting and tracing your maternal histories? 

Yetunde Sapp: I think the design process that I learned was very intensive and was a process of collecting, refining, and analyzing materials. With this project, I had been collecting various artifacts over the course of about four years. I spent the past eight months or so really looking at everything, finding the relationships between letters, journals, photos, and stories passed down orally. That’s when I found out Debby and Rose crossed paths during their time in New York. 

ASL: There are countless hurdles to jump through when it comes to uncovering Black history since much of it was intentionally buried. Where did you begin with such a massive project?

YS: I like to think that this work found me. I don't think it was something I was seeking out, but my name means “spirit of the mother returned” in Yoruba. The process began when I found a dresser in my great-grandmother's house. She left an organized pile of documents that I wanted to scan—those that served as a road map to people, places, dates, and organizations linked to folks who had access to more than I did. In the beginning, I did lots of scanning, collecting, organizing, and categorizing. I learned to take a small bit of information, like a photo or a document, and extract information that would lead me to new people and places. Using these clues revealed this interconnected web of stories and journeys between Debby and Rose. 

ASL: Rose and Debby are famously prolific songwriters, with over 1,000 song credits between the two during their careers. Do you feel that their work ethics have changed your approach to creating? 

YS: There were definitely many times that I considered giving up throughout this process—I don't think I had experienced such massive barriers in my own creative journey. I had to remind myself that I hadn't attempted a project of this scale before. I would think about the actual material in front of me, finding similarities in their journeys. That made me recognize that they were able to achieve what they came to this city to do despite the sexism and racism they faced—so there should be no reason I can't do the same. 

Deep down, I think that is what kept me pushing forward, despite hiccups that came along the way. In times that I found myself falling into a space of comparison, I would repeat some of their lyrics to push myself. “I think it's gonna work out fine, I think it's gonna work out fine,” Rose wrote that lyric for Ike and Tina Turner.

My perfectionism was a roadblock I came face to face with often, and I had to remind myself I was new to this work—and many people tried to remind me that this was not the first time I would do this. As Debby sings, “I do the best I can with what I got.”

The opening night of Heirloom Museum (2025). Image courtesy of Gracie GK.

ASL: I grew up hearing stories of my great-grandfather’s journey from Mississippi to Chicago, and only in recent years did I realize he was part of the Great Migration. That realization sort of tied me to the American history that I’d grown up learning about. Did you experience any moments in your research that merged taught histories and personal histories?

YS: I definitely feel like since moving to New York City I have experienced more of the African diaspora than I ever did growing up in DC, so the weight of my African Americanness has been apparent now more than ever. The fact that several generations of my family are from St. Augustine, the oldest city in America—it's like oh! we are American history.

ASL: When I read Rose’s quote, "We thought we were writing the blues, but they called it rock 'n' roll," I was reminded of the feckless labeling that Black artists faced then and continue to face now. As an anti-disciplinary artist, have you felt a pressure to “niche down?”

YS: I definitely feel like trying to tackle a project at this scale made me feel affirmed in the range of skills I’ve picked up, but it also left me questioning whether my approach of trying so many different mediums has limited my ability to truly be “great” at one thing. At times, I am not sure what people might associate me with or think of when it comes to my work, and I think that is something that I am still trying to figure out, especially post-institution. After working extensively on such a hard project, I definitely am moving towards honing in on one skill to really grow in.

The opening night of Heirloom Museum (2025). Image courtesy of Gracie GK.

ASL: Due to unforeseen circumstances, the Museum was closed prematurely; what do you see in The Heirloom Museum’s future?

YS: One of the things I wanted to do was create a space for conversation with contemporary Black women musicians and speak about how best to support the future of music. I hope to be able to align with a space that will give the project the life it deserves. I’m excited to see where The Heirloom Museum goes next. In the meantime, I am going to recharge for the next iteration.

This interview has been edited for clarity and length.