IT’S ALL OUT OF MY ARMS: An Activated Honoring

Artists featured in the ICA exhibition Dear Mazie,—Lukaza Branfman-Verissimo and the collective known as The Black School (operated by Joseph Cuillier and Shani Peters)—invite the writers Alexis De Veaux and Ayana Zaire Cotton to facilitate a collaborative altar-building workshop and collective reading.

Members of the public are invited to contribute to the altar with objects of significance that represent liberation, future making, and resistance. Please bring the item with you to the performance— No candles, incense, glitter, or open flames please—you will leave the evening with it in hand.

Artist Description:
“IT’S ALL OUT OF MY ARMS, OUR COLLECTIVE MOUTH IS SPEAKING” holds visionary Black queer legacies within our mouths, woven into our relationship to our collective liberation. It honors the builders, crafters, sculptors, poets, educators, activists, and web keepers of our futurity, bringing together the practices and language of Amaza Lee Meredith, Lukaza Branfman-Verissimo, Ayana Zaire Cotton, Alexis De Veaux, and Joseph Cuillier and Shani Peters of The Black School, into a spell and ceremony to build with.

The title reference, “it is all out of my arms,” is drawn from a poem by fellow Black queer architect, poet, activist, and educator June Jordan, and our collective mouth is speaking, giving our words power to craft a future full of collective worldbuilding. We wrap our mouths, homes, lovers, and sacred objects in words, letters, correspondence, spells, wishes, and demands, letting this language be the building blocks to craft our sacred survival spaces, in honor of and with Amaza.