“Life is a state of endless becoming. It is vital not to forget where we’ve been, to take inventory of all that we currently have, and to envision bigger lives for ourselves.
I WAS — In a society that is forward facing and fast moving, there is value in pausing and looking back. The first phase asks us to rest and reflect. To acknowledge the stages we have survived, the people we have loved, and the losses we have accumulated.
We must make a home for all of our experiences and allow them to take shape. How will we let our past inform us? How will we carry it forward? How will we become bigger than what has hurt us?
I AM — The character sits centered, anchored in the present.
We must take the time to absorb what is happening now without letting life mindlessly pass us by. Pay attention, even to the hard parts.
I WILL BE — Evolution is inevitable. Should we ever feel stuck or trapped, we can seek comfort knowing we exist in a state of flux.
The character exits the frame, envisioning a life beyond what the viewer can see.
This piece serves as an homage to process, rather than outcome. Healing happens when we are able to incorporate the full spectrum of our experiences and integrate our collective selves. Instead of keeping parts of us in the dark, we deserve to live wholly and authentically. I hope you will honor every leg of your journey, knowing life is infinitely unfolding.”
Chanel Miller. “I was, I am, I will be” is on view at the Asian Art Museum in San Francisco through February 2022.
Ava DuVernay: You understood the dangers of American policing, the criminalization of Black, native, and brown people, 50 years ago. Your activism and your scholarship has always been inclusive of class and race and gender and sexuality. It seems we’re at a critical mass where a majority of people are finally able to hear and to understand the concepts that you’ve been talking about for decades. Is that satisfying or exhausting after all this time?
Angela Davis: I don’t think about it as an experience that I’m having as an individual. I think about it as a collective experience, because I would not have made those arguments or engaged in those kinds of activisms if there were not other people doing it. One of the things that some of us said over and over again is that we’re doing this work. Don’t expect to receive public credit for it. It’s not to be acknowledged that we do this work. We do this work because we want to change the world. If we don’t do the work continuously and passionately, even as it appears as if no one is listening, if we don’t help to create the conditions of possibility for change, then a moment like this will arrive and we can do nothing about it. As Bobby Seale said, we will not be able to “seize the time.” This is a perfect example of our being able to seize this moment and turn it into something that’s radical and transformative.
Excerpted from Audre Lorde’s paper “The Transformation of Silence into Language and Action,” originally delivered at the Lesbian and Literature panel of the Modern Language Association’s December 28, 1977 meeting. First published in Sinister Wisdom 6 and The Cancer Journals.
