Courtesy Simone Johnson 2020
by Simone Johnson
I dream of health care futures
of cured fibroids, finally
creative expression released
Unleashed
womb clearings
sexual healing
families mending fragmentation as best they can
a society that centers and reveres Life, and Death
An understanding that Spectrums are Divine
Midwives helping welcome souls into Black bodies
before the Atlantic Slave trade. . . Before . . .
Inhale, Hello
Exhale, Welcome
and after,
a good laugh
a libation
harvesting rice
a midnight meeting
a rape
standing in a clear river
singing in a clear river
a family meal
a lynching
foraging for berries
sitting by a fire
receiving the medicine of flowers
after another killing at the hands of police
To travel through the birth canal and Emerge
Here
It's not fair
Those warm sacred waters, in which Black babies form,
throughout Time
What they must hear, what they must feel
Love,
What is a womb?
Light, Sound, Cool air!
There is no going Back
Once you are born, you are born
into the wrinkled hands of Time
There there. It's going to be okay
Is it? Are you sure?
Why do some people have more Time than others? Why can one person do what they desire to do with their time, and another not so?
Many of our ancestors labored all day; sang under hot knowing Suns, dreamed during a good rain, plotted under listening night skies
"What is it you want me to reconcile myself to?"
asks James Baldwin
"I was born here almost 60 years ago. I'm not going to live another 60 years. You always told me it takes time. It's taken my father's time, my mother's time, my uncle's time, my brother's and my sister's time, my niece's and my nephew's time . . . how much time do you want, for your progress?"
Reproductive Justice is Water Justice is Racial Justice is Economic Justice is Climate Justice is Time Justice
I find myself gravitating toward making art around/with/for the body because The Body is the Future, for people from all walks of Life
#bodyfutures #blackbodyfutures #bodyasportal
#bodyasmessenger #bodyoracle #listentothebody
#earthbody #centerthebody #thebodyistheimagination
Mmm yes. . . the Body IS the Imagination
Timelines physically Opened up for us by the
needs, desires, intuition and instructions of our ancestors
Realities birthed from their feet, knees, stomach, heart, throat, back, hands, skin
Thank you thank you!
The pelvis, our Root, consists of the urinary bladder, reproductive organs and rectum. The Root is also a center of creativity and self-expression
Tap into the Root archives of the Spectrum
What will you find?
Yes, Connection, Beauty, Movement, Radiance, Belonging too
Asè!
Remembering the womb space as Memorykeeper,
Birth canals in flesh and spirit
The labor of creating, and emerging
The Water Body as Guide
Listen. Please!
The land that was worked and the country that was built
Inextricably linked
"You always told me it takes time. It's taken my father's time, my mother's time, my uncle's time, my brother's and my sister's time, my niece's and my nephew's time. . ."
Light!
Sound!
Cool air!
------------------------------------------
In addition to 40 acres of land and a mule, we are calling for reparations in the form of monetary and non-monetary support for Black birth/reproductive health, bodywork and movement practitioners, projects and organizations, and Black people genuinely interested in doing this kind of work. This specificity addresses the legacy of exploitation, experimentation, oppression and violence toward Black bodies, reproductive health and family constellations. I'll be working with the Culture Push team to include this in the overall call for reparations. Thank you for reading!
Simone Johnson is an interdisciplinary artist. Learn more about her work here.