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In Dedication: Aaron Ibn Pori Pitts (September 16, 1941 – August 13, 2022) was an artist, poet, activist, and member of the League of Revolutionary Black Workers. The memorial service for Pitts is held Saturday, September 17 from 2-5pm at Wayne County Community College District campus, 8200 West Outer Drive, Detroit.



Ibn Pori Pitts: Encrypted in Tempered Shadows
By Melba Joyce Boyd

Peace begins
with release.
despite madness
surrounding
distorted thoughts
corrupted by need,
or crushed beneath grief,
trapped and suffering,
Ibn catches our breath,
takes it inside,
into eclectic imagery,
into phonic sounds
or jazz phrasing,
scaling inner space,
and remakes us.
Multi-artist,
poet, painter,
and musician,
Ibn sees beyond
temporal space.
he traverses
urban terrains,
reshapes tragic
shadows,
untangles knots,
clotting brains,
swallows ugly
truths whole,
digests and
transforms this
into transcendent,
translucent light.
Ogun artist,
cultural warrior,
turning us inside out,
re-envisioning us
in the next life,
encrypted in
tempered shadows
aligned with his heart.




Brother Ibn was a Eulipion. He was there for his creative community. He was there for anyone who had been wronged. He was there for the babies and the baby’s Mommas. He would buy the diapers and bring you food and drink. He would take your babies to school, pick them up, and encourage them.

He was afro spirit (a flash of afro spirit?) He would invite you to celebrate Juneteenth long before it was a holiday. He would bring food and gifts for Kwanzaa! He was the moving spirit when poets were lost in the spotlight encouraging, “Go on, it’s in you. You have the gift!” Ibn could reach back through time and bring forth the energy of the ancestors.

He would say, “you have something for the people to hear and see.” He would prod and push musicians, dancers, poets, and creatives to be their ultimate spiritual selves! His family was always in his vision and if you were in his realm you were his family too! His stories, his spiritual energy, his love for mankind and people he did not even know was abundant.

He trusted that we all had something to offer to the greater good for all to live in peace and we thank him for making the world a better place

–M. Saffell Gardner



Installation by Aaron Ibn Pori Pitts at Johanson Charles Gallery, Detroit

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Founded in 2020, Three Fold is an independent quarterly based in Detroit that presents exploratory points of view on arts, culture, and society in addition to original works in various media, including visual art, literature, film and the performing arts. We solicit and commission contributions from artists, writers, and activists around the world. Three Fold is a publication of Trinosophes Projects, a 501(c)3 non-profit organization located in the historic Eastern Market neighborhood in downtown Detroit. Click here to check out Three Fold’s events page and view a schedule of the publication’s on-site activities.

Three Fold recognizes, supports, and advocates for the sovereignty of Michigan’s twelve federally-recognized Indian nations, for historic Indigenous communities in Michigan, for Indigenous individuals and communities who live here now, and for those who were forcibly removed from their Homelands. We operate on occupied territories called Waawiiyaataanong, named by the Anishinaabeg and including the Three Fires Confederacy of Ojibwe (Chippewa), Odawa (Ottawa), and Bodewatomi (Potawatomi) peoples. We hold to commit to Indigenous communities in Waawiiyaataanong, their elders, both past and present, and future generations.