indelible::spirit
offerings for rest and recalibration
Indelible means “that which cannot be removed, washed away, or erased; making marks that cannot easily be removed; lasting; unforgettable, memorable.” What makes art so rich is its impossibility of being forgotten and its potential of having a permanent influence of effect—on us as individuals and the world and time beyond now. Art carries an indelible spirit and can be a source of wisdom, power, and change if wielded with care and integrity.
Below is a list of final offerings to support you in finding time to feed your mind, rest, and reflect as the year ends. May this last month of 2025 be good to you and may you feel renewed on the other side of 2026.
Let’s Read and Discuss: I am reading more now and these are essays that I have held close to my heart.
In “Notes on Craft: Writing in the Hour of Genocide,” Fargo Tbakhi writes: Above all, Craft is the result of market forces; it is therefore the result of imperial forces, as the two are so inextricably bound up together as to be one and the same. The Craft which is taught in Western institutions, taken up and reproduced by Western publishers, literary institutions, and awards bodies, is a set of regulatory ideas which curtail forms of speech that might enact real danger to the constellation of economic and social values which are, as I write this, facilitating genocide in Palestine and elsewhere across the globe.
“Just Evidence,” Sasha Crawford-Holland, Patrick Brian Smith, and LaCharles Ward write: What does accountability look like? For at least the past fifteen years, the answer has been overwhelmingly forensic. Artists and activists working to hold power to account continue to take up the tools of the state to furnish proof of its violence. These technoscientific tools—of documentation and surveillance, digital identification and verification, data mining and analysis, remote sensing, mapping, and modeling—seem to guarantee bulletproof evidence. They promise authority, legibility, and access to legal-accountability mechanisms that would otherwise remain out of reach for the socially and politically marginalized.
In “Darkness as method: Black fugitivity in an age of tyranny,” DaeQuan Collier writes: To move through darkness is to enter a Black tradition of survival. A mode of being that refuses legibility and containment. In this moment of TikTok blackface deepfakes, hyper-surveillance, and multi-billion-dollar AI contracts with the state, we must reclaim the practice of moving in shadow. To embrace the Black tradition of fugitivity. To make Blackness untraceable again. - A Year In Black Art: Issue 8, 2024-2025 (PDF available)
Let’s Watch and Immerse: ARTISTIC, a short film by nina lee
In this short film by nina lee, Billie (Taylor Freeman), a lonely Black teen with Down syndrome, spends the day with Los (Marshawn Lynch), her older sister’s ex and drug dealer for the day. Los assumes the role of protective older brother who gives Billie some street knowledge and reminds her that her neurodivergence is nothing to be ashamed of when others make fun of her. However, when a misunderstanding puts their life at risk, Billie learns the true importance of friendship. Such a bittersweet, lovely film.
Listen and Find a Groove: Erykah Badu Performs at NYTimes for 25th Anniversary of Mama’s Gun
In the above performance, Erykah Badu speaks of how she met up with J.Dilla and pulled out a random record from his collection, which became the sample for Didn’t Cha Know. The album was Dreamflower by Tarika Blue, a Jazz fusion band from the ‘70s.
That random moment created an impetus for one of Erykah’s biggest hits on Mama’s Gun. In the same way, her song brought new life and recognition to Tarika Blue’s musicianship. Got me thinking about how small moments of inspiration and intuition-led creations can have reverberations for years to come. Reminder: Trust yourself.
Welcome to the Z Axis will resume in 2026. For now, let’s stay connected offline and/or irl.