Cry for Black Lives

As the world began to burn, literally and figuratively, I put together a two step intervention along with my LA based art collective Cosmic Dreamers (Elisa Noemi, and Ramy El-Etreby) to bring people together and to highlight the problems we face emotionally as inhabitants of the now United States.

Step One: the party. I brought together a group of individuals to make a version of church fans, a tradition borrowed from the Black church. However, instead of the faces of Martin Luther King, Jr. or Barack Obama, I wrote a text that expressed my feelings around the racial violence of today and that suggested what to do with feelings that arise from witnessing violence was inscribed on the fan. The other side of the fan became a canvas for party-goers to visually represent a sentiment they want to pass on. During Step One I facilitated a discussion around racial injustice and community tactics to help Black lives.

Step Two: the intervention. Under the cover of crying umbrellas meant to represent the tears that have been shed due to the loss of life, we passed out over 100 fans to protesters on a hot day, and encouraged them to ruminate on the message they received.