I am not the voice of healing, I am not the voice of Black women, but I am the voice of my own healing and my own Blackness and, if my voice can echo others’ voices, then my voice is part of the many voices of healing.

I am writing it because am perturbed that the metaphysical explorations of the African village, as those I have described above ultimately are, do not feature in the stories we tell ourselves about ourselves as Africans and as global citizens. The African village is not afforded complexity.

Not very long ago, I stumbled upon a painting by an artist named Titus Agbara. It depicted a village in Nigeria. The painting was picturesque; but I also found it provocative. It did not simply depict a vivid scene of village life, it also raised a critical discussion about how geography connects with revelation,imagination, and perception.

Note: This is essentially a very long voice note from me to you on digital love. You can listen to it while in transit, or save it for when you have a moment of stillness. If you can, I encourage you to do the latter and drink some water first.

Nicole Rafiki’s Outtakes from the Congo Diary is a visual voyage, an invitation to see, to wonder, to stand. She makes visible what is, or has become, or was made, invisible.

– Maria Esmeral Henriquez

Meditations on Astrid González' Cultura Negra series by Maria Esmeral Henriquez

Imagine a utopian place where adults and children, Black, white, Asian and Latino, are singing, dancing, practising yoga, listening to lectures on trauma, performing and painting all together in one space filled with joy, enthusiasm and the enthralling sounds of music.

– Małgorzata Ludwisiak

One of the most poignant factors affecting the prospects of Black British artists during the pandemic is society’s reckoning with the persistence of racial inequality in all spheres of life.

– Lisa Anderson

Astrid González is a Colombian artist working between Colombia and Chile. Her work explores the historical processes of Afrodescendants on the American continents.

I sometimes wonder if it is safer to consider ourselves as like the fresh clay that we take from the earth to process and turn into bricks – I am filled with a warmth in thinking about these transitional processes.

– Péjú Oshin

Black and Brown people have historically and traditionally been underrepresented within the canon. But in the current racial climate, some are asking: is that a canon we want to be a part of?

– Lise Ragbir, curator and writer

I envision a future in which exhibitions revolving solely around Black art are unnecessary because each artist’s work has been carefully considered and appreciated for its aesthetic and cerebral contribution to the canon.

– Jessica Lauren Elizabeth Taylor, artist