How do we map out the conditions of art making? Who gets to impact culture, how, and why? How do we craft responses to art that move culture forward? And how does this writing benefit our lives and communities?
These are the questions that brought us together to craft this zine, Hidden Dreams. We are a collective of students and community members with a desire to deeply engage with culture. Together, we explore the relationship between art and society, seek wisdom and inspiration from community leaders, and discuss the questions which guide us towards liberated futures.
The answers are not always easy or intuitive. It’s difficult to understand what liberation looks like within the structures of Brown University, an institution founded on stolen land and the subjugation of Black and Indigenous peoples. How can we reckon with the violent histories which have brought us all together?
We have engaged with local artists who have asked us to consider the power of collective dreaming, the struggle in finding joy, and the regenerative power of rest. Our guests taught us about accessing the power of collaboration through conversations rooted in trust and vulnerability. Rapper and musicologist Enongo Lumumba-Kasongo offered us an understanding of how art-making is a “matter of life and death,” a space in which we can be free to imagine alternative realities. Arts activist Shey Rivera Ríos gifted us insights about the magical power of ancestral histories and legacies, and the ways in which culture-making can mobilize and energize resistance. Baltimore Club multidisciplinary artist Abdu Ali showed us the generative power of rhythm and voice, and the ways in which self-expression can pave the way for newly emergent scenes and creative traditions. Jamaican poet and writer Colin Channer reminded us that “to entitle oneself to joy is a struggle, and it’s a process of rebellion.”
Creativity is a site of liberation. In order to engage in resistance, we must also prioritize our own physical and spiritual healing. Rest is an essential part of resistance. There is magic to be found in the aspects of everyday life––care for creative conversations, dreams, and so much more.
When we dream together, we generate entropy. Unfurling. Chaos. Disorder. We believe in the unsettling, disruption, and dismantling of white supremacy, patriarchy, anti-Blackness, racism, homophobia, transphobia, and all of the sociopolitical and cultural products of these oppressive systems of domination. We ask ourselves: how can we destabilize the hierarchies that exist in our daily lives? In response, we believe that:
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By gaining, sharing, and distributing knowledge, we empower ourselves and each other.
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By grounding ourselves in rich histories and lineages, we hold space for the wisdom and knowledge of those who came before us.
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By imagining new possibilities in collaboration with one another, we can break apart and invent worlds.
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By using joy and creativity as tools of resistance, we energize our communities to use their voices for the pursuit of liberation.
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By prioritizing care and rest for ourselves and others, we create networks of support that form thriving ecologies of community.
The final tenet of this work is that it is fundamentally incomplete. Hidden Dreams is a collective of questions. Answers arrive in the form of new questions, so our manifesto itself lives in a constant state of change. We evolve; we unfold and refold; we flux. We share the understanding that we are always in a process of learning and becoming.
We hold space for the nuances and contradictions of this work. We come from histories of violence, but we aspire for love. Cultivating a liberationist space at Brown University demands that we acknowledge the histories of harm upon which this institution was founded. It also requires that we trust in the capacity of Brown communities to evolve for the better and seek ways to actively engage this change.
We offer you this zine as a collection of questions, reflections, illustrations, and imaginations that present a moment in time that is both futurist and reflective, contemplative and creative. Thank you, dear reader, for joining us in this hidden garden. We hope you take something from it, and that you carry with you our mission of cultivating care, imagining new futures, and listening for the magic and music of this world around us.
With Love,
The Hidden Dreams Collective