Description

white spaces where we learn to breathe is art that combines space, text and punctuation as social commentary on the both the spaces that are typically "white spaces," and also the spaces left behind by missing and murdered BIPOC on Turtle Island. The reader is encouraged to breathe inside these spaces, and to observe them as one might observe a moment of silence.

The text itself is an insertion into white space, that of the page. As with all dark skin in white spaces, the text can feel awkward and uncomfortable to the colonized in terms of its placement on the page or the way it interrupts your thoughts or flow.

white spaces exists to ask the white reader to sit and breathe with this discomfort, while celebrating the experiences of BIPOC, who are used to breathing in spaces that are not made for them, and for whom we must ensure safer spaces, where something that white folks often take for granted – simply breathing – feels joyous and natural.