As we brace for 2019 and stack up our resolutions, Broadly is focusing on finding motivation for the hard tasks that await us—like getting out of bed. So, throughout January, we're rolling out Getting Out of Bed, a series of stories about all things related to rest and resilience. Read more here.In Black Power Naps, an ongoing project and exhibition that debuted at Matadero Madrid in 2018 and is on view at Performance Space New York through January 31, 2019, Afro-Latinx artists Fannie Sosa and niv Acosta present a series of interactive installations—or “devices” as the artists put it—designed to promote healing and rest among Black people. The exhibition, pictured below with models lounging amongst the installations, is vast, dreamy, and playful. In designing it, though, the artists were informed by research on the “racial sleep gap” (the finding that Black Americans receive significantly less sleep on average than white Americans), of slaves being controlled via sleep deprivation, and alternative healing methods—all of which they discussed in an interview with Broadly. Below, they also shared the five fundamental tenants that drove their vision of the project and that they’d like for those engaging with the work to understand. With these manifesto-like statements, the artists poetically tie together the myriad concepts underlying the project—reparations, aspirations, structural power dynamics, racial capitalism, ancestry, double consciousness, joy—and show how they all intersect within Black bodies and the lived experience of Black people. —Sarah Burke, editor
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Model: Charlyn Griffith. Photo by Avi Avion. Creative direction by niv Acosta and Fannie Sosa. Make up by Gogo Graham. Photo editing by Alyza Enriquez.Black Sleep requires total divestment from what is largely expected of a Negro*. To successfully sleep, a Negro must unlearn all that drives our inclination to please and appease others. Black Sleep is the full acceptance that you will disappoint simply by saying “NO” and taking a nap instead. For a Negro, the idea of sleep is haunted by deadly fictions—racist stigmas passed on from the days of slavery, when falling asleep during the day was a heavily punished act. Despite what they may tell you, you are not lazy or out of line; you require and deserve sleep for existing. You must sleep for your ancestors who could not in the past, and kin who cannot in the moment. You must sleep for your future. Napping is a long-term investment.
1. Black Sleep
2. Black Dream
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