Black rage is borne of chronic waiting. It is a product of both immediate and ancient grievances waiting to be heard and repaired. Its relationship to time is both immaterial and precise. Its timeline folds back on itself, winds around, gets lost in a cocoon of false social progress. Our experience of Black rage moves at the speed of our ancestors’ accumulated suffering, an avalanche you can hear coming from centuries away. It slows, suspends, and elongates when we collectively exhale in light of a symbolic policy victory. It exudes urgency when ignited by a George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, or Tony McDade.
We bide the passing time enraged, making others wait while we protest in busy streets, and practicing various freedoms to prepare us for the real thing.
This project—a mixture of experimental writing and paper cutting—works with Black rage as material: exploring its contours, tensions, and impatience; mapping the nature of its accumulation, containment, and expression through a series of material explorations.