Experiments From a Black Queer Feminist Future

BYP100 National Convening, photo by Christopher Jason

Opening reception: Thursday, August 29, 6–9 p.m.

Experiments From a Black Queer Feminist Future is a multi-artist exhibition organized by Courtney Sebring with Courtney Reid-Eaton and Amber Delgado. Incorporating multiple mediums, the interactive exhibit is “an homage to the legacy of resistance and freedom experiments” in Durham that invites conversation and connection.

The exhibit includes contributions from Amber Delgado, Azzan Quick, Black Feminist Bookmobile, Black Mama's Bailout, BYP 100, Christopher Jason, Courtney Reid-Eaton, Courtney Sebring, Katina Parker, and SONG.

Artist statement from Courtney Sebring:

This project is experimenting with my belief that we can transport ourselves into moments that both feel like freedom and move us closer to our liberation. I believe that some of us are here from the future, agitating and challenging our communities to dream of, love, and fight for the place and time where all of us are free. The angelic troublemakers, the culture shifting warriors, the radical mamas and brave aunties, artists and organizers who create these moments every single day all over the world.

To me, Durham has always been a place where history is made when our people come together for a radical purpose. Experiments from the Black Queer Feminist Future is an homage to the legacy of resistance and freedom experiments in this city. This work is interactive, each piece an opportunity to engage in collective experimentation. It will be as powerful as what each of us put in. What would change if every Durham resident had a say in how the entire city budget was spent? What would change if no one ever had to sit in a cage because they couldn’t afford bail? What would change if Durham had a space dedicated to taking revolutionary action in service of our freedom?

This space is an invitation and a challenge to the community to experiment with taking meaningful action in service of a Black Queer Feminist Future. To connect with each other. To determine our collective safety. To free our neighbors from cages.

It is a declaration that the future where all Black people are free is possible. And that future already exists - in the revolutionary and ordinary work that many people in this community, and all over the world, are engaging in everyday. There is a future where Black women, Black queer people, Black trans and gender non-conforming people, Black undocumented people, Black disabled people, and all historically marginalized communities are free. This space of experimentation is not just for freedom-dreaming, but freedom-building.

Experiments From a Black Queer Feminist Future is a test of June Jordan’s prophecy: “We are the ones we’ve been waiting for.”