Civic Arts Talk with Imani Perry and Robin D. G. Kelley at Civic Arts Church
On Wednesday, August 7, 2024, Sweet Water Foundation (SWF) hosted renowned scholars and historians Imani Perry and Robin D. G. Kelley at The Commonwealth for the second Civic Arts Talk. This series, launched in July, explores themes including community, art, architecture, design, memory, culture, history, legacy, heritage, and healing. The August session focused on reclaiming image and identity through the lens of freedom dreaming. How can we dare to freedom dream?
Read more about Imani Perry and Robin D. G. Kelley’s immersion and Civic Arts Talk at The Commonwealth.
Civic Arts Talk with Imani Perry and Robin Kelley
Imani Perry and Robin D. G. Kelley, two distinguished figures in the world of scholarship and activism who are connected through their mutual interests and mentorship, reconnected at The Commonwealth on August 7 for a mini-immersion and the second 2024 Civic Arts Talk at Civic Arts Church.
Robin Kelley is an author, academic, and historian connected to SWF through the work, legacy, and community of James and Grace Lee Boggs in Detroit. He writes around new concepts and forms of radical imagination and freedom dreaming. Robin first visited The Commonwealth in April 2023, two years after attending SWF’s Executive Director, Emmanuel Pratt’s keynote speech at North Carolina State University. During his 2023 visit, he not only toured The Commonwealth but also worked on the Community Farm, attended a Civic Arts workshop, dabbled in carpentry in the Work-Shop, and built critical connections with the SWF team. Robin returned briefly to The Commonwealth in February 2023 and participated in the Sankofa Living Memory Series and the RND Research Cohort.
Imani Perry is an acclaimed author, Harvard University professor, and recent MacArthur Fellow who connected with Emmanuel Pratt and SWF in the Summer of 2024 through a talk Emmanuel gave for incoming MacArthur Fellows.
August 7 was a significant moment with Imani’s first visit to The Commonwealth and Robin’s third visit to The Commonwealth, along with their reunion with each other and SWF team members. They started their mini-immersion by contributing to Wellness Wednesday, meeting SWF Community members, seeing the Re-Mapping the Publics exhibit and shucking beans in the Thought Barn, and experiencing the joy of swinging in the Healing Garden’s new Cabana, followed by a nourishing, shared farm-to-table meal under the Learning Tree in the Alley.
“Without new visions, we don’t know what to build, only what to knock down. We not only end up confused, rudderless, and cynical, but we forget that making a revolution is not a series of clever maneuvers and tactics, but a process that can and must transform us.”
After experiencing Wellness Wednesday, Robin and Imani delivered a Civic Arts Talk in Civic Arts Church to an audience of more than 45 people. The conversation centered on what it means to claim our image and identity, dare to have a radical imagination that reflects that new identity, and dare to dream of freedom.
Imani and Robin shared stories about ancestors, elders, and community leaders who have influenced them, including Virginia Estelle Randolph, Dr. Vincent Harding, Jimmy and Grace Lee Boggs, and W. E. B. Du Bois. They also reflected on the importance of Sankofa—using stories from the past to imagine a future and actively create what we need/dream of for the present.
At the end of the conversation, they reflected on freedom dreaming, emphasizing the importance of collective labor and identity. Imani stated, “Collective labor is an important part of freedom dreaming. It’s not extractive when you're doing it together.” And Robin shared that “identity is in the making and being remade. Every time you do some act of creation and community formation, we develop, change, and find new bearings. Think of identity as recreation and something that's not fixed.”
Freedom Dreaming Workshop
Immediately following the talk, Imani, Robin, and attendees engaged in a civic arts activity to freedom dream using collage, nature printing, and dominoes (reflecting the Civic Arts Talk with Rick Lowe in July) and drawing upon inspiration from previous workshops by Civic Artists-in-Residence, including Dr. Derise “Mama Afua” Tolliver, Rhonda Long, Darlene Grant, Ricardia Davis, and the SWF team.
