acknowledgement
For those who have died following Covid-19 infection
For those who recently died of causes unrelated to Covid-19
For those who have been systematically and systemically disabled
For those who remain
For those who soften in unexpected manners
For those who held me up to be strong
For those who nurture hope by punctuating their sentences with ‘post-Covid’’
For those who find pleasure in our cultures in the midst of a pandemic
For my mother, my grandmother, and for Eole
For those who move like rivers and grow otherwise
For us who have always had to grow Other-wise and place hope in change
For all Black beings who in monstrous metamorphosis survive and love
borrowing words used by Saidyia Hartman and Alexis Pauline Gumbs that are now part of me – a bit more everyday:
“we were never meant to survive and here we are creating a world full of love”*
For the spaceS
Arcadia Gallery
Coventry Peace House
Foleshill
Coventry
Paris
ShangHai
Berlin
Fort-de-France
Sub-saharian Africa
Black Diasporic ecosystemS
with you in context. always. and ever.
My thanks goes to those who lent me their bodies, minds, and both to find pleasure in my everyday work/life.
For incredibly infectious Black artists, authors, writers, and activists’ dreams from where i am coming from.
For Jay who cooks for me and encourages me, for Victor and Philips who kept me laughing in the hardest times, for conversations at the kitchen table of the Peace House on blackness, gender creativity, and transition.
For Mindy, Lauryn, Ryan, Chloe, and Tara for their kindness, generosity, and luminous support.
For all of us.
*as part of blog posts released on a weekly basis during my residency i will be sharing books that transformed me. Ultimately a book list will be shared as an open document.
offerings:
In the Wake On Blackness and Being by Christina Sharpe
Wayward Lives, Beautiful Experiments by Saidiya Hartman
Revolutionary Mothering: love on the frontline edited by Alexis Pauline Gumbs, China Martens, and Mai’a Williams • Preface by Loretta J. Ross