Wk 1: Rituals for Resilience
During the lockdown period of the pandemic my roommate Sydnee started hosting what I’ve been calling “Art Office Hours” where she would set aside time to work on art on zoom. She invited friends who were spread out in different cities and countries to join the zoom call and throughout the day she would hang out with different friends, catch up, and work on art projects. We have decided to continue and expand on this practice. The two of us are setting aside time every Sunday to work on art projects. For me this is specifically art projects that are not for school. We have this time open to our other roommates as well as any friends who want to come over and join us in real life (or on zoom during covid spikes). This practice supports my personal wellbeing and resilience by carving out time to engage in artistic expression and release, to socialize, and to take a break from ITP. For me, this ritual is also about building an art practice that isn’t dependent on assignments/deadlines and creates a space for community engagement.
Starting next week, I will be updating this blog post each week with images of the space and what I worked on during the time we set aside.
Update 03/19/2022: This activity never got off the ground. I found it hard to make this happen for three reasons. One I found it difficult to commit to setting aside time to stay home and host an open space on Sundays because there are so many activities to go out to. The second reason this was difficult is because there is so much work that I am supposed to be doing. I’m taking six classes, have three jobs, am doing research, and my partner moved in with me during this time turning my home situation totally upside down. The third reason is the space itself isn’t really ready to hold a creative practice; it’s cluttered and disorganized with junk and doesn’t offer enough room to spread my creative wings.
Some weeks I augmented this intention by engaging in a non-school related art practice outside of my home. I took a pottery class with a friend in Queens, I attended a glass blowing workshop, and I went to a Black Queer writing group. I’m glad I found time to engage in these practices but for me they fall short because of the non-ritualistic nature in which I picked them up. A big part of the intent of developing a ritual was the focused energy that goes into it and the sense of order that comes out. Right now I am in the process of exploring how to reclaim some of the energy I’m outputting on a weekly basis so I can give it to this practice which I think would be more restorative them some of the other activities I am giving energy to. The concept of slow living is one I have been exploring via a youtube as one possible method to retrain my daily practice.
