An unrealized field recording project for Andrea Yarbrough’s “in c/o black women” curatorial series. Sound sources recorded in Chicago, IL.

FIELD RECORDINGS: in c/o sound bodies

in everything, there is ceremony by virtue of being.
by virtue of being a black-centering body, there is ceremony in all things, for all things, for being.
there is ceremony for being, for blackness and breathing.
through capture and violence, diaspora displacement, solutions no nothing, reparations no nothing.
they know nothing, nah nothing for negro-black problems.
Pan-African black niggas still smiling, still grinning,
black women still living, providing, pro-styling.
black queries on queerness, on loving and safety,
on freedom of movement, on freedom of movement,
find freedom in movement, define freedom in movement.

for ritual, for practice, for rites of safe passage, for run-aways escaping & fists thrown in the air. for Ericka Huggins, solitude in confinement,
for building a practice and keeping from cracking.

ceremony is the visit of my grandmother’s spirit
for that one empty chair, so the ancestors may rest.

ceremony is energy, magnetic, it’s spirit. Manifesting as sound, in objects, in liquid.
It travels and shape-shifts, Hpnotiq, euphoric.
Exists without Savior, neurologic, it’s favor.

for future & past,
give reverence to those passed.
It’s offering and incense, lit candles and spirits.

for loss and observance, be a moment of silence...
to all, I pray peace, Rest in Peace: Kobe Bryant,
to the babies and parents, lost dreams and defiance.
to the elders: Chris Black, Ras G & Shanese,
Aunt Jeanette, I pray peace, for the lives that we’ve seen,
For the names that we speak. On everything, pray peace. On everything, pray peace. On everything, pray peace.

there is ceremony in all things, for all things, for being. there is ceremony for being, for blackness and breathing.
For ritual, for practice, for rites of safe passage. ceremony is survival, surviving & thriving.

Ceremony (a prose-poem) by dana washington-queen

Field recordings from sites in Chicago, IL and San Bernardino County, CA, which was layered beneath a fragmented conversation between Fred Moten and Sondra Perry for FRIEZE Talks 2018.

Sound accompanies a photograph.

danawashington

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