with brontë velez, SOURCE R&D Fellow
A ritual and craft residency, hosted by SOURCE Studio and R&D Fellow brontë velez, with our partners Arts, Letters and Numbers.
Culminating in an evening of black feminist music, dance, and transmission at Carnegie Hall, guided by Esperanza Spalding and hosted by Alexis Pauline Gumbs.
In June Jordan’s 1977: Poem for Mrs. Fannie Lou Hamer, Jordan describes “a homemade field of love,” cultivated by a woman who refused to surrender her capacity for devotion in the face of racial violence.
During their R&D Fellowship with SOURCE, brontë velez was invited by esperanza spalding to curate the environment for a homemade field of love, a special evening of black feminist music, dance, and transmissions at Carnegie Hall that would take inspiration from June Jordan’s poem. Through their R&D Fellowship, brontë expanded the possibilities of this invitation to further the homemade field of love.
In collaboration with SOURCE, brontë extended the invitation to a cohort of artists–Spirit Adams, Jasmine Best, Cici Osias, Karina Sharif, and Nastassja Swift– and led them in a weeklong residency of craft, ritual, and study of Black feminist teachings. Emerging from guidance from esperanza and deep meditations with the poem, brontë asked the artists:
- How might we clean the air and make our hands brooms?
- How might we cool the waters with a libation?
- How might we sit “lion spine relaxed,” like ancestor June witnessed of ancestor Fannie, despite the racial violence she was up against?
- How might the fire at the center of this field of love be “one full Black lily luminescent?”
At Carnegie Hall, esperanza spalding led the assembled audience through music, dance, and transmission, with Alexis Pauline Gumbs holding the space as host and teacher. esperanza and Alexis alternated between offering songs as prayerful instructions and reading passages from historical Black feminist texts. With the pulsing light of Karina’s one full Black lily luminescent overhead, spotlight on Jasmine’s brooms to clean the air, and Spirit Adam’s libations passed around for all to sip, and the cohort of artists resting on Natasja’s lion spine relaxed furniture sculptures, Esperanza invited the audience to pick up handmade instruments from brontë’s altar and join in on an extended, collaborative improvisation practice called co-musicking.
The artworks as sacraments continue to expand the homemade field of love in a permanent installation at the Free Black Women’s Library.
This project was the culmination of brontë’s SOURCE R&D Fellowship — a year of close thought partnership, creative companionship, and sustained collaboration between brontë and SOURCE team members Siyona Ravi and Amanda Wiles.
Learn more about brontë’s experience as the R&D Fellow here!
about the homemade field of love residency at Arts, Letters & Numbers
The residency took place at Arts Letters & Numbers Averill Park Campus in Upstate New York. We are so grateful for the team’s practice of “always say yes.” Thank you to David, Metzli, and Elias at ALN. And to Sara XXX, for her invaluable efforts to ensure the artists were nourished and supported. Arts Letters & Numbers is a non profit arts, education, and publishing organization dedicated to promoting creative exchanges across a wide range of disciplines. Learn more about their work here.
about the homemade field of love concert at Carnegie Hall
The concert took place at the Resnick Education Wing of Carnegie Hall as part of their Well Being Concert Series curated by Manuel Bagorro. Our deepest gratitude goes to Sam Livingston and Anna Holt for their expert and generous support with this project.
about The Free Black Women’s Library
The Free Black Women’s Library is a Black Feminist archive and community care space in Bedford-Stuyvesant, Brooklyn that features a collection of over 5000 books written by Black women and Black non-binary writers, a free store, a period pantry, and a wide array of workshops and free public programs.
The sacraments created by the artists will go on to live at the Free Black Women’s Library, continuing to expand the homemade field of love.
