Artist Statement

A Family Conversation for Seed to Harvest: The Wooden Book

Greetings, salutations, and a warm “What’s up”, family!

Thank you for taking the time to read a bit about our project. We hope after you’ve read, you’ll want to join us on the endeavor. We’ve been thinking about memory and medicine.

Our memories are medicine. Inside our DNA we have both ancestral trauma AND ancestral healing. Without either, we would not be here now. We think of this medicine as stories that are bitter or sweet, or a combination of both. Some memories, we’ve held so tightly that they create tumors and/or ruptures inside us. Some memories we’ve sown with our laughter.

We’ve been reading Octavia Butler’s Parable of the Sower. From our journey inside the book, we’ve come to think of ourselves as Sowers. Sowers, for us, are those who scatter seed upon the earth for growth; those who plant sense; those who set in motion; and those who carry the messages we need to hear for growth.

We believe in our collective growth. We’re asking you to join us in being a Sower of medicine. You can offer your medicine; your memory in any form--words, drawings, dances, music, conversation, recipes and other forms that might not have a name in english.

We also have some medicine to share. Come meet us at one of our community tabling sessions to gather some seeds and mugwort. Mugwort is a mighty weed. We’re pretty sure you’ve seen it. Visit us at one of our tables and we’ll show you who she is and what she offers, if you don’t already know. The seeds we offer are for planting now and for saving for our future.

We look forward to you joining us. Come Sowers, let us plant, let us spread our medicine together. Thank you, Toshi Reagon, Parable Path Boston, ArtsEmerson and all of our tour partners for supporting this iteration of the project!

How to submit: You may make your submissions in person at one of the book’s tour locations or via email: Seedtoharvestentries@gmail.com

Community Guidelines

All submissions to The Wooden Book will be included at the discretion of the TRACES/REMAIN artists, the lead Sowers of this project. Please be considerate of the items you sow. Please include your name and contact information with your submission even if you wish for your submission to be included in the book anonymously. Please note that sexist, ableist, homophobic, racist, or other hateful forms of communication will not be included in the book.