I believe that I can dream my way out of pain. At least I do on the days I can float myself to the creek and listen to the sun whistle between the trees. Plus, I never let myself die in my dreams.
I’ve been thinking about how we perceive our dreams. Waking dreams, daydreams, and the ones that visit when we go to sleep. I think of the collective dreams I have with my community. Of living freely, safely, comfortably and full of love.

Sometimes I daydream about what life would be like if western masses weren’t conditioned to understand one perspective as the only truth. Schools do not teach alternate modes of knowing, going as far as to demonize and ban what doesn’t fit into a box of a man's homogenous dreams.

In 1834, my ancestors in Trinidad and Tobago were freed from slavery. In celebration and parody of the fantastical horror endured for 300+ years, Canboulay--better known as Carnival-- was born. When they burned sugar cane and played drums in procession, the British rule did not see the joy my ancestors embodied. Rather they demonized their chants, banned the drums and created lasting impact on how indigenous practices are perceived across the island.

In school I was never taught about beliefs that existed before the Enlightenment. Any practices proceeding such an intellectual revolution were deemed primal and trivial. The indigenous practices that persist were, and are, deemed as dangerous. Ushered during this era was the household name of neurologist and psychoanalyst, Sigmund Freud. In what became known as The Interpretation of Dreams, Freud traces dreams from the dreamer’s subconscious calling them ‘hidden wish fulfillments.’ Freud opens the book with a clear message, once modes of thought belonging to the newly prescribed “natural science,” arrived, indigenous thought faded into modern psychology. The Enlightenment is also known as an era of reason, with little regard to the possibilities that existed beyond freshly established logic.

I believe that spirit exists between us, in our dreams and in our everyday. Were our dreams ever meant to exist in private? What if they are meant to be chanted on the streets, celebrated together, ritualized? Can our dreams be dreamt together?

When we look to African dreaming practices, there is a fundamental difference in how meaning is prescribed to dreams. In African psychology, the individual is merely one node of a larger community and environment. There is not enough space between my subconscious and yours to discern a self-fulfilling prophecy separate from my neighbor’s. For centuries, people of color have found remedy, freedom, and security in dreaming processes. Dreams shared in ceremony serve as community guidance. Beyond mysticism, dreams continue to be an infrastructure for survival.

Is it a coincidence that we no longer have time to rest?
I believe our dreams want to be known.
I believe in webs of knowledge, of bringing together hindsight and foresight to dream of a present filled with awe, beauty and safety.

What if we had the time and space to dream new imaginaries, new futures, new possibilities for bringing more love to this world?


 Reference Library

Freud, Sigmund. Interpretation of Dreams. Translated by James Strachey, Basic Books, 2010.

Gumbs, Alexis Pauline. “Freedom Dreams and the Nightmare of Policing.” INDY Week, 24 June 2020, https://indyweek.com/news/voices/freedom-dreams-nightmare-policing/.

Nwoye, Augustine. “The Psychology and Content of Dreaming in Africa.” Journal of Black Psychology, vol. 43, no. 1, 2016, pp. 3–26., https://doi.org/10.1177/0095798415614159.

Salgado, Nilsa itwasdreamed. “Exploring Dr. Martin Luther King's Famous ‘I Had A Dream’ Speech: Was It A ‘Hope’, A Sleeping Dream or Both?” Instagram.com/Itwasdreamed, 17 Jan. 2022, https://www.instagram.com/p/CY25J5-OSzq/?igshid=MDJmNzVkMjY=.

Shafton, Anthony. “African-Americans and Predictive Dreams.” Association for the Study of Dreams, 2013, https://asdreams.org/magazine/articles/african_prediction_dreams.htm.

work in collaboration with:: Physchoanalysis and the Visual (Gallatin Interdisciplinary course with Professor Eve Metzler, NYU)

Related Work: This Is For the Dreamers Zine