An Invitation for Black and Indigenous Artists to Dream

Recently, we have seen uprisings, movements that form in the virtual space and flow over into the real world. We witnessed a global reckoning on misogynistic politics and white supremacy. We saw people unite and ideas formed. But how can we even imagine a future without taking the time to collectively dream?

In 2020, the two of us began a project to bring Black and Indigenous artists together through a practice of collective dreaming and healing work—as an artistic and activist practice, to strengthen communities, and as a revolutionary act. In October 2020, we gathered with 18 Black and Indigenous artists for a whole day over the internet to nap and dream. We met with good intentions, arranging beforehand for dreaming herbs to be sent to each participant, as well as providing funds for a long-distance shared meal. We began with offerings, groundings, and prayers. We watched Skawennati’s film She Falls for Ages (2017),¹ which emerges out of her own Indigenous futuring practice. We made our teas and spent a good long time introducing ourselves, our work, and our ancestors. We had the honour of being led into rest by The Nap Bishop, Tricia Hersey.² We began to imagine a future where our needs were met and our communities’ needs were met.

Participant Aline Baiana told us, “We were in this beautiful group of people, some of them never talked to each other before, never seen each other before. We connected in this wave and we were sharing all these feelings