Hersey will present two events at Arts House on Saturday August 19, An Uprising of Dreams – a guided meditation and collective rest led by Nap Bishop, and Saturday August 26, Rest is Resistance: A Keynote, a manifesto for those who are sleep deprived.
An Uprising of Dreams “an immersive art intervention that delves into the concept of rest as resistance, guided by the visionary Nap Bishop Tricia Hersey.”
The work harnesses the power of sound healing, projection art, guided meditation, and collective rest to confront the grind culture that “perpetuates labour exploitation and denies the human right to rest.”
Much of it is rooted in ancient knowledge born of African knowledge, what many of us will recognise also in our own Greek myths.
Greeks have known the power of sleep as a healing and creative exercise we even had a god, Hypnos: Ὕπνος, meaning ‘sleep’ dedicated to sleep. His name is the origin of the word sleep in Greek and hypnosis in English.
According to Pausanias, Hypnos was considered a dearest friend of the Muses, the goddesses of literature, science, and the arts.
Rest is Resistance aims to lay the foundation for rest as an act of resistance, that challenges the norms that prioritise endless labour and productivity for others profit.
We Greeks all know the power of the nap, as a mechanism of social and cultural resistance, and physical and spiritual healing. We know that however hard work that nap is what gives us the essential ingredient of our ancient and eternal Greek life.
The artist Tricia Hersey, who is also a theologian, is the founder of The Nap Ministry, where the notion of “rest as resistance” and “rest as reparations” takes centre stage. In Uprising of Dreams, participants will be invited to reclaim their Dream Space to reconnect with the ancient African and Greek wisdom of balancing life and caring for their bodies in a space of slowness and care.
At the heart of An Uprising of Dreams is the Dream Space, a realm that grind culture robs us of, leaving us disconnected from our higher purpose and divine potential. In Greek mythology, Morpheus, the son of Hypnos, sends shapes to the dreamer as way of rejuvenating creativity.
Tricia Hersey’s praxis, like Morpheus, invites participants to immerse themselves in a multisensory experience that combines sound, moving imagery, and guided meditation.
Hersey is a trailblazing artist, activist, writer, and theologian whose journey began with a Bachelor of Science in Public Health from Eastern Illinois University and culminated in a Master of Divinity from the Candler School of Theology at Emory University.
Tricia’s research interests encompass Black liberation theology, womanism, somatics, (σωματικές) and cultural trauma (τραύμα), as bedrocks for her ground-breaking work.
Her work she writes is a pathway to the “rest practices needed to collectively build and imagine new worlds as we simultaneously dismantle and deprogram ourselves from the systems that prop up and perpetuate the racial, social, and environmental harm done by white supremacy and extractive capitalism.”
Helen Hale’s contribution to An Uprising of Dreams aim to enhance the immersive experience, as she brings her expertise as a dance maker, and embodiment scholar to the fore.
When: Saturday, August 19, 7.30pm – 9.30pm
For more information: www.artshouse.com.au/events/an-uprising-of-dreams/
