Mesmerizing visionary leader brontë velez poetically guides us through an expansive exploration of critical ecology, radical imagination and decomposition as rebellion. brontë graciously encourages us to examine our relationship to place and space, the decolonization of literacy, the decomposition of violence and the prioritization of Black wellness.

brontë is guided by “the many rivers that have come together” to make and sustain them. as a black-latinx multimedia artist, life-long student, and designer, their praxis (theory + action) lives at the intersections of critical geography, black liberation ecologies and creative placemaking. they live by the call that "black wellness is the antithesis of state violence" (Mark Anthony Johnson). their work intends to compost the violences forged by environmental racism through radical imagination. this commitment iterates through several mediums and this year grows through Lead to Life. in their last year at Brandeis University, brontë worked as a copy editor on a retrospective of Mexican artist Pedro Reyes’ work. when they witnessed his projects Disarm and Palas por Pistolas - in which he transforms weapons into shovels and instruments - they were met with profound healing and a deep desire to share this medicine through continuing the rituals in the united states as a direct response to losing a dear friend to gun violence alongside the larger traumatic impact on black communities and environments from police brutality. they are committed to joy, wellness, decomposition as rebellion and walking in the prayer that “justice is what love looks like in public."

♫ Music featured in this episode by Majo and Reverend Pearly Brown.

Episode References

Emergent Strategy by adrienne maree brown

Conflict is Not Abuse by Sarah Shulman

Jasmine E. Johnson

tayla shanaye

Suzanne Pierre

Saidiya Hartman

Fred Moten

Michel Trouillot

Phillis Wheatley

“Cosmic Literacies and Black Fugitivity” by James Padilioni, Jr.

Benjamin Banneker

Alice Walker

Mark Anthony Johnson

Leah Penniman at Soulfire Farm

Theaster Gates, Tamir and Samaria Rice

Dr. Shawn Ginwright

Kyle Lemle

Bureau of Linguistical Reality

The Sovereignty of Quiet by Kevin Quashie

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