Background &
Literature Review
Photo: Whitney GC
Saatchi Gallery | London
What came before this work?
01: Black Queer Feminism
Photo: Whitney GC
The New Black Vanguard
Saatchi Gallery | London
What is Black Queer Feminism (BQF)?
How do we define Blackness and Queerness?
How are they all connected?
How does BQF inspire this thesis?
Black Queer Feminism - a framework for subverting normative systems by placing Blackness & Queerness in conversation with one another and amplifying the voices of those with connected marginalized identities
Blackness
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a phenotypical and ancestral identity marker for the descendants of ancestors who originate from Africa
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as Fugitive; a modality that challenges oppressive forces that oppose it
Queerness
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an identity marker for the LGBTQ+ community, formed from a reclaimed slur
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a radical positioning of self; nonconformity to and deviance from heteronormativity
In Conversation with Scholars:
Marquis Bey, Cathy Cohen, Laura Harris, Patricia Hill Collins, José Muños, Audre Lorde, Omise'eke Tinsley, MJ Alexander
Blackness and Queerness are inherently connected in their ability to reject white supremacy, capitalism, and heteronormativity. Transcending everything we are taught to accept about society, Blackness and Queerness operate together as banded forces denying, deconstructing, and reimagining.
Black Queer Feminism is created out of this connection – it is a fugitive work in favor of a vision where we are all free. Recognizing whose voices are silenced and dismantling systems that silence them.
Black Wellness can be understood here – a method of fostering our wellness that doubles as a deliberate rejection of oppresive forces that hinder our wellness.
02: Black Wellness 101
Black Wellness is the cultivation of our physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual wellbeing.
It is an awareness of how our bodies are doing and actions to help our bodies feel fulfilled. “It is everything we do. It touches every section of our lives and is a continuous practice…relating to an overall sense of thriving, wellbeing is about the things that can inspire us, uplift us…a way of life that brings us closer to our best selves." (Take Care, 19)
The current world we live in was not created to keep Black people healthy. As a result, we are dying from fatigue, from capitalism, from racism, and the weight of carrying it all.
Black Wellness is essential to Black life because it is a method of denying systems that benefit when we are constantly moving, thinking, and working outside of ourselves. White supremacy and capitalism may not disappear in a day, but resisting them is crucial. Black Wellness is why we are able to keep going; at the end of the day, it is life or death.
What does Black Wellness look like?
Black Wellness is expansive. It can look however we need it to, and it often calls on Black ancestral traditions and practices to guide us.
WalkGood LA is a Black & Brown-led community wellness organization dedicated to healing in solidarity through the arts, health, & wellness.
03: Why Creativity?
Art provides an outlet for energies that cannot be expressed in words.
Black Wellness recognizes that creative expression was carried with enslaved Africans to descendants across the Diaspora. For outstanding emotions and experiences, “storytelling, movement, music, and other forms of art” preserve the “history and integrity of a people…while addressing pertinent health needs and issues” (Spirituality & Wellness in the Black LGBTQIA+ Experience, 23).
Click on these pictures!
We make art to reflect all of the different parts of ourselves, all of our struggles, all of our triumphs. Art is an extension of ourselves, and it is central to understanding Black Wellness.