"The times are urgent, let us slow down." 

- Bayo Akomolafe
These Wilds Beyond Our Fences: Letters to My Daughter on Humanity's Search for Home

Witnessing the Black Exhale Nest

The Black Exhale Nest project, launched in 2022, aimed to create a sanctuary for the Black body at the intersection of embodied social justice, trauma integration, art, and repair practice. The project centered on the experiences of system-impacted Black men, honoring their stories and the community that supported Black Exhale since its founding.

However, during the project, ancestral wounds surfaced, revealing the ongoing need for trauma-informed racial sensitivity and the importance of creating truly safe spaces for healing. Despite the challenges (or perhaps reinforced by it), Black Exhale remains committed to its mission of centering Blackness, and creating sanctuary for individual, ancestral, and collective healing.

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FUNDING & PARTNERS:

Spoken Word: Antoinette Cooper. Sound Healing: Elana Bell and Ben Brown.

CHAPTERS:

1
REQUIEM FOR
A NEST

Confronting the wounds and ethics of the Black Exhale Nest project.

2
CREATING SANCTUARY

Witnessing the process of building sacred space for healing and remembrance.

3
VOICES OF RESILIENCE

Bearing witness to the stories of system-impacted Black men and gender non-conforming people.

4
HONORING
THE ANCESTORS

Recognizing the ancestral presence
that guides and sustains the work of
healing and liberation.

5
SACRED REFLECTIONS

Engaging in personal reflection and collective action through an interactive altar space.

6
EDUCATE YOURSELF

Exploring resources that align with the themes of collective trauma, healing, and resilience.

Thank you for bearing witness with The Black Exhale Nest Project. Like the vines and branches of the Black Exhale Nest, let us hold, with gentleness, the Black men and genderfluid folk impacted by the criminal justice system.

Please share your thoughts below as we continue to explore emergent questions in Black liberation work.