I do not want to be great or even good
Black excellence needs to go! I recently found a collective of Black Artists and Makers, and I quickly scrolled to the bottom of their page to HIT that <subscribe> button. I was excited, and I scrolled through more and more of their page; I realized this collective was not for me. It is for continuing lineage of African descendants (implied in the US). It is for people at the TOP of their field or whose work is projected to be at the TOP of their field.
The holy waters and high/low mountains of my people, I want to be bad.
What does that mean or imply to me? They are not for me.
And it hurts to meet that realization over and over. I have stopped seeking resources from “Artists” anything. There is a huge implication of artists being white and male; for the most part, they are product-focused. That orientation is bleach to the mold colonies, myceliuming inter-cosmological being that is my creative practice. At this stage of my practice, I am learning how to set up and engage in the craft and practice. I am allowing the work to guide my path and hands.
My work is not readily consumable, nor does it need to be. I gag—literally, my toast is a tad too dry—at the thought of offering the consumerist capital hunger more food. I rage against the idea that black makers need to strive and achieve excellence in craft and making lineages of our ancestors.
I dream of the craft practices reaching the hands and homes of black folks as a practice of healing, pathways to reconstituting lifeways that honor our ancestors. I dream of practice as a way to reclaim our Time, the moments of our beautiful and necessary life on the globe.
The holy waters and high/low mountains of my people, I want to be bad.
I want to make bad work.
I am making work that is alive—
work that can only be related to, work that calls wholly presence, work that is alive.
I want to keep living with my work, through my work, and by my work.
🌱 gratitude & grounding
Thank you for the people who give me the opportunity to say, “if i don’t wanna be like that, then who do i wanna be? how do i wanna be?”
How are you orienting to the creative practice of your life?
Is it invigorating? If so, now what? If not, what to you want to orient to?
Shoutout to my new paid subscriber, KP! Thank you for believing in my path! I look forward to purchasing bubble teas with the unexpected gift.