dear poems,
today is the anniversary of me writing mixed magic. it started with writing back at universities in austria being violently repressive around palestine and also in this episode, the censorship around palestinian solidarity is an important topic. unfortunately, this is still the reality. exhibitions censor art works in solidarity with palestine, even those meant for bipoc. it’s painful. it’s deeply disappointing. i’m not here to call out individual people and organizations. it’s a deeply structural problem.
i’m here to grieve and to discuss how admist all this violence and pain, we can still heal. i co-organize a group called marginal magic around bipoc mental health in vienna, within which i’ve recently started facilitating a space called “decolonizing therapy together”. currently, we’ve started reading and discussing “the pain we carry” by natalie gutierrez. one take-away: we don’t need to always be resilient and strong. we get to not be. we get to be weak. we get to be neither of those binaries. we get to be.
i read passages from the book and i also discuss my perspective on hierarchies of safety and trauma, ancestors to claim or not to claim, how to communicate without invalidating each other, and why bipoc suffering shouldn’t be normalized.
if still possible, you can sign this letter to support the syrian-palestinian artist who has recently been fired from the academy of fine arts vienna over an instagram post showing her solidarity with palestine: letter of support for nour shantout.
may we honour the pain we carry.
love,
imọlẹ
ps: if you’re interested wintering & blooming with me, especially when it comes to reclaiming your voice and your creativity as an embodied learning practice, click here.
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