Knowing, seeing, listening, and finding each other has saved my life. Thank you to each participant in this project who became a collaborator. You give me excitement for this world and colour my eyes with hope and strength.
Your impact on myself and so many of those involved in this project is profound and immense - something we knew, but were forced to feel quite intensely with your passing. Your life and spirit remind me to be bold and fiery all the way through.
This project would not have been inspired without your challenge of my personhood and self esteem. I work for a world where expression and art doesn’t stem from a place of painful, systemic, and fundamentally boring experiences.
Thank you claiming me, thank you for seeing me, thank you for affirming me.
A complex and heartbreaking place. You broke me so many times, yet somehow I, and other Black people here found (and continue to find) ourselves rising. Thank you doesn’t cover it.