Dream it
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Dream it 〰️
RE-building Home step by step
What was/is home?
You must first ask yourself that, when you decide to rebuild, instead of building from scratch.
Is there a vision there already? What do you see?
If there is no vision you are building from scratch, if you can see it, it already has existed, so in that instance you are, rebuilding.
My home was/is…..
What they did back home was….
The way we treated each other back home was …
Home felt….
Eleven’s vision of home…
“Home was peaceful at night, it was a playground, where the beauty of the night meant that everything would glow. Back home, there is/was always a place to go. There are temples open 24 hours a day, so there’s’ always some where to go at any time, when you want to meditate, or create. Creation happens at all hours, and so does gardening. There are vans to transport the night owls and drop them off to temples, or home. The vans are paid for by the government back home. Back home we had ceremonies every two weeks, One on the new moon, and one on the full moon, during these cermonies we check in with ecah other, and help each other cross over at the end of each cycle into newness, and rebirth. The ceremonies happened at the temples.
The entire community builds habits off of genuinely supportig each other and being honest even when it hurts.
Back home everybody is honest, they do not just disappear. Back home when there is a conflict it is discussed no one plays pretend.
Back home everyone does their purpose, they know the value and path of their soul, and support others, via energy exchanges. This is why back home we didn’t have jobs, we just had our purpose and a community that supports each other’s purpose so sustains itself.
Back home everyone created a lover from the inside, then used manifestation and energy cultivation to bring their true love near, and if it was not that, then they would recognize their partner immediately as it’s been the partner they’ve had since the beginning of time, because back home everyone knew we were infinity all of the time. So the beginning of time is always beginning, never ending time.
Back home it felt joyous, warm and adventurous. We all were strong, we all meditated together as one, and vibrated and healed the earth. We knew the healing vibration for any illness or disorder, we were very well versed in all that was alignment. Allignement of the mind, body and soul, alignment, of family and love. We were the keepers of memory, we had never separated from source, back home we were all knowing, just by coincidence, it was natural, not anything special or crazy.”
“The Temples were my favorite part. There was a room for attracting anything you can think of, rooms designed for attracting abundance had paintings of all the known and unknown gods and masters of abundance, with floors made of coins, and walls filled with pyrite, there were money trees, and sage to clear away energy blockages. Every room had blank paper to leave your notes in the vision box.
There was a fertility room full of doulas, and herbs and portraits of fertility goddesses. That room led to the balcony of gardens, where families wanting children planted seeds to bring in new life.
There were victory rooms full of war gods'. Masters of various forms of combat trained in these dojos as well.
There was the death room, to help grieve or prepare for death, it had sense deprivation tanks, and shamans with plant medicines ready. There were paintings of the gods of the akashic record, goddesses of death and deities of the underworld, in the den which is at the end of the hall of the death room.
Rooms I ran was the healing Sancturary, and the lover’s sanctuary. I maintained these rooms, which had my favorite elements, the waterfall, and fruit trees. We also did a lot of work with composting and upcycling in the healing rooms. To show what we can make out of the parts of ourselves that were discarded. I was a master of healing, especially emotional healing. All of the healing rooms were connected to one big waterfall which was at the center of the temple, it ran through every floor. It was the notion that healing powered each room, so should be represented by water, all elements of life required the reinforcement of healing. So I usually met all types of souls, they wouldn’t stay, a successful healer, does not encourage stagnant visitors.
I also ran the sanctuary of oneness and pure being, I had repeat visitors usually for this space, on the top floor, where the waterfall begins, this room had a bunch of mirrors, and got so much sun, because it was up the highest and we have a sunroof. When you go to the roof there is an infinity pool, which is good balance for the hot months. Then that pool would spill over, that is how we get the waterfall of healing. It’s all to say that source and oneness is the source of all healing.
This is the temple I am building, one of the main factors in rebuilding home.”
Ceremonial Statement
Home is what you build and nourish, but it's also what your ancestors built and nourished. That's why finding home sometimes means leaving home, for those displaced and separated from native lands.
My theory is that the nomad culture is especially appealing for Africans of the diaspora. Any African immigrant, Any one of Moorish descent, Afro Indigenous, Afro-latina(o), African American ectara.
The nomadic lifestyle is the feeling of retracing your steps. Trying to be intentional before claiming “this place that I was born, is my home.”
Us people of color have a hard time participating and validating the rat race because we are busy finding our roots. We don’t have the capacity to mindlessly labor another 4 generations.
I've realized that I cannot begin life in a land that always feels raped, colonized, foreign. This land has been cultivated by the death, and silencing of my ancestors, the shame and violence lives here with us in these apartments. Sometimes it feels like the only two options are, reverse the curse; heal the land and insert new memories into the coded root systems of the city (which for me looks like ceremony) or leave.
I am meant to do both, retrace my steps and heal the land as I go. This is my proposal, my purpose, a ceremony tour. I have challenged myself to walk the earth and do an ancient practice that honors my ancestors. That ancient practice is art, gathering, and being.
This creative tour is a subtle invocation of my ancestors as I retrace my steps. The ceremony is me resetting the land, every time we meditate and come together and play certain frequencies, and collectively and intentionally vibrate together we are changing the land.
Playing the rhythms of the ancestors wakes them up. It gives them new memories, it brings them the future, this is how we make the land our own, and create a positive disruption to the echoes of genocide that curse the soil.
Follow my journey holding ceremonies, body painting, processing intergenerational trauma through the creative medium of gathering for sacred purpose with intentionality, installations, paintings, and the spoken word.
Ceremony Mission and Accomplishments
My mission is to establish sanctuaries for healing that help people process the intergenerational impact of slavery, and colonization.
These spaces will host events focused on progressive discourse and meditative practices. Utilizing the medium of art, I create immersive installations that serve as a meeting ground and activation space for ceremonies.
These ceremonies, conducted monthly during the new moon phase, are open to the public as a means of fostering collective rejuvenation. Each session offers guided meditations, collaborative healing sound baths, and dedicated time for inner child healing and emotional introspection. The emphasis lies in providing a platform for intentional communal engagement, fostering an atmosphere of safety, vulnerability, and uninhibited expression.
To ensure the effectiveness and inclusivity of these experiences, I collaborate closely with local healers and community leaders, drawing upon their diverse expertise. Moreover, I am proud to announce a forthcoming renewal of partnership with the Newark Meditation Center, underscoring our commitment to shared goals. Last year, in conjunction with the Center, I successfully organized six ceremonies. Subsequently, these gatherings transitioned to the Paul Robeson Gallery until the conclusion of my residency at the Rutgers campus center.