Dreaming Freedom

The era of colonization and slavery created a world where even human beings became objects- to be classified, to be subjected ruthlessly to scientific knowledge and suffocating calculations, all of which would create an order to be administered and ruled by the European colonizer. Yet, parallel to this world of restriction and enslavement was another world- of enchantment, of a powerful imagination that possessed a force just as real as the physical world order. This project aims to explore and discover the place where the colonizer and the master could never reach- the mind of the enslaved. These minds were never heard or seen because they survived under the merciless weight of the colonial world and the white European master. And yet, what seems like mere survival was a thriving world in itself, like weeds that find their way out of a strong, space less wall, and grow slowly and silently. In essence, the Master may have enslaved bodies and lands, but failed to conquer minds, the place where the reality of the conquered thrived. This was the place where the enslaved hid and protected their real thoughts and dreams- an imagination just as powerful and real as the outside world. Therefore, this work attempts to understand the dreams of the enslaved, and explore their ability to keep on dreaming. For it was in dreams that they could break free from physical restrictions, where they could run and fly and be liberated. This project aims to show the reality and beauty of the world of slave dreams- a world of freedom situated right within the world of slavery, unnoticed and unstoppable. This is where its ultimate significance lies- for all that the White master professed, freedom had always been growing right under his nose, and grew and grew until it burst out right through his own world.  It is the reality of dreams then, that showed that slavery, racism and colonialism had never won at all.

In essence, the importance of this work lies in the depiction of how the terrorized and enslaved mind can add an invincible beauty to a cruel and ugly world. This invincibility is that of dreams, which are above reality and yet just as real as the world outside. That the ability to dream was not lost or conquered is the soul of a hope that still lingers in the world today- a world that still faces challenges left by slavery. This ability was a way of self-healing while the enslaved suffered, and will therefore always keep healing the marks left by cruelty. It was an immortal force that could not be caught, caged, killed or broken- and will always be so. Dreams are a hope that there is still a way to begin healing.

The most powerful place that protected these dreams within enslaved minds could be the poetic imagination. This project, thus, aims to explore slave songs and spirituals in order to seek where and how this power thrived and what it meant to the enslaved. These songs and spirituals are significant in their imaginative quality and reality at the same time- the only words that encapsulate the surreal thoughts of the enslaved and their secret freedom. These words depict their freedom on a daily basis- while laboring on plantations and while prostrating right in front of the master.

With this power, these songs and spirituals showed how an existing freedom intertwined with hope of freedom and created tunes, images and emotions that were an entire experience on their own. The project chooses to focus on slavery specifically because it brought forth intense physical hardship along with an emotional one and made the ability to dream even stronger. Even while chained, the slaves then could still dance to their own tune. This research will tentatively take the form of an illustrative collection of songs and spirituals, crafted along these themes- with a detailed introduction of an analysis and thoughts on the chosen songs and the experience that they endeavor to convey. It is impossible to recreate that experience or ever understand it fully- but it is imperative to cherish, protect and further immortalize this ability to dream, heal and hope. This is why the songs themselves will only be accompanied by illustrations and no more words than what the enslaved uttered. The invincible beauty of the terrorized mind lies in a world of music, chants, dance, images and tangled, chaotic thoughts. This collection aims to create itself for those who choose to see the powerful reality of disorder and freedom in a perfectly ordered world.