Gallery owner expands spaces to celebrate art and culture

CAMILLYA MASUNDA

La'Nayah Miller reads "The Other Black Girl" at the Ebony Shelf Bookstore, which opens May 31 at 7714 Matthews-Mint Hill Road. The bookstore is one of three initiatives launched by Ebony Wine & Spirits owner Camillya Masunda's expansion of Ebony Experience Gallery.

Camillya Masunda is making her mark in Charlotte through several ventures.

Masunda is the owner of Ebony Wine & Spirits (ebonywineandspirits.com), which she describes as the only minority-owned company of its kind in North Carolina. Aside from contributing to the spirits industry, Masunda also owns Ebony Experience Gallery at 7714 Matthews-Mint Hill Road, which will soon expand.

The gallery opened in 2022 to create immerse spaces that honor the beauty, strength and brilliance of the African diaspora.

“We started the Ebony Experience Gallery a few years ago it has served as an art gallery and event venue,” she said.

On Saturday, the Ebony Experience Gallery will host the grand opening of three unique spaces: Ebony Bloom Tea Lounge, Ebony Shelf Bookstore and the “All Eyes on Congo” exhibit. The spaces celebrate Black culture, literatures and wellness.

“We wanted to create a space that was whimsical that was artistry just like the gallery but also told the story and shared our story and put new used and rare books that aren't easy to find,” Masunda said. “We want people to have a place where our culture is embodied in a few different ways so that's what really prompted the renovation to the Ebony Shelf and we wanted to create a culture hub where people could come and stay all day.”

According to Masunda, the spaces offer:

• Ebony Bloom Tea Lounge

In this space, visitors can seat and sup through a variety of teas, coffees and pastries. All while learning the history of teas as the room is designed as a sort of museum to spotlight the diverse tea of the diaspora.

“Our new beverages are tea in our coffee, so our tea are mixed organic loose-leaf blends that are coming from different parts of the continent of Africa,” she said. “Our coffee beans are coming out of Ethiopia,

“The tea blends are made in-house; however, the ingredients of the tea blends are coming from different parts of the continent of Africa when it comes to the different leafs that are blended in the tea and then our coffee beans are out of Ethiopia and Colombia.”

• Ebony Shelf Bookstore

Masunda described this space as a “literary treasure.”

This space is filled with new and used books that from Black voices.

“The store is both a celebration of culture literacy and a call to amply stories that because all stories matter,” Masunda said.

Masunda said all books available in the bookstore hold the power to inspire and transform.

• “All Eyes on Congo” exhibit

This space introduces visitors with history, specifically the pre-colonial history and culture of Congo.

Upon entering the space, visitors will be offered perspective of Congo’s global significance through art and photography.

Masunda said the exhibit recalls the power of representation.

“All of these concepts are in one place, so you can think of [it as] a speakeasy or hidden gem, and you're really thinking you're walking into one thing and as you go into each door, it's something else,” she said. “It also has a patio. It also has a lobby and then you have the walk into the first base which is the Ebony shelf, you walk into the second space which is the Ebony Bloom tea lounge, and then you walk into the Ebony experience gallery.”

Masunda said she began working on renovations in February to create something that would be a place where people would come and hang out.

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