"Fear not the depths of your emotions, for it is there, where spirit lives. Fear not the power of spirit, for it is there, where freedom lives.
Fear not the expanse of freedom, for it is there,
where we Live our connection to all-that-is."
-Lyda Faith Ives
A performance art piece that is a social/community practice, created by Tía Lyda (aka Candace M. Younghans),
'A Social Mourning Place' was first set in New York City's Union Square subway station in 2010 and then, in Ashland, in 2011 and in 2017, now it is a growing and annual event/social practice.
What:
A Social, Mourning Place is a community happening, a social practice where we, collectively, hold space for our grieving to be witnessed in public, shared amongst us, without shame. In this space we stand together in our mourning, in community, in solidarity, and in the discomfort.
We feel, together, what has happened, what is happening, and what we are allowing to continue to happen.
This practice is an exercise in being together, with intention and with full attention to feeling and being seen in the undeniable discomfort we all are facing - together.
It is a liberation practice.
How:
By each of us showing up in the plaza - the commons - to be present to our hearts deepest knowing, to the depths of our love and thereby, our grief. It will be a co-creation that happens just by each of us choosing to show up for a social mourning opportunity. An opportunity to trust ourselves with ourSelf and each other. Everyone is invited to bring and create what serves their mourning. And together we will be. No pre-designed structure, no-one leading or telling, just being, together, in the commons, sharing that which we all have in common.
Where:
A Social Mourning Place will be held in the downtown plazas, simultaneously, of both Santa Fe, New Mexico and in Ashland, Oregon.
What to Bring:
See below under Tía Lyda's note.
Background:
A Social Mourning Place was conceived of and has been practiced 3 times by Performance Artist Tía Lyda, aka Candace Younghans. She held A Social Mourning Place first in New York City (Dec 2010), and then in Ashland, Oregon (Nov 24, 2011 & 2017).
Tía Lyda believes in de-privatizing our emotions, our grief, our full spectrum humanity. Her initial impetus to create this piece/practice came from the feeling of, "no longer wanting to cry alone and having a hunch I was not alone in that feeling either. Then, in the first practice in NYC, after being thanked by a caregiver of combat veterans, it landed how important this practice is to our collective healing, to our re-membering of who we really are. Our true nature."
Read more at her ONEspace for Creative Communication website: www.onespace.us/a-social-mourning-place.html
Why:
Here is a list of what Santa Fe host, Ben Morgen, suggests we carry collectively and therefore, collectively, must mourn:
-Our Culture of War and Violence and the burden of our Service members and their Families.
-Sexual and Physical Abuse
-Addiction, Overdoses, Drug Violence, and the War on Drugs
-Environmental Degradation and Global Warming
-The Prison Industrial Complex
-Acknowledging Historical Trauma, the First Peoples, Genocide, and that we live on stolen lands.
-Racism, Slavery, and Inequity
-Patriarchy and the Mother Wound
-Food Injustice held and how we poison ourselves and our families
-Consumerism, Materialism Economy, and our Waste Culture
*And more...including all the personal heart wounds we carry individually that we no longer wish to pass on to each other or our children...
A Note From Tía Lyda (Candace) about the Ceremony:
This "piece" is a space set for we, the people, to come together and mourn - socially, openly, with community, with our fellow human beings, without shame. To move the multitude of energies/emotions which accumulate under the surface (personally and transpersonally). To give full invitation and allowance of their collective release. This is the opposite of holding back tears, wiping them away, stealing away to a private space to sob...it is an invitation to feeeeeel....and LET IT FLOW - TOGETHER.
"...to let the emotions flow, to remove the dams and let the rivers run free, so that they may flow into the sea that is 'We'."
Pure, uncategorized emotion from whence ever it arises, to be sent out, in recognition of the immensity of Life, to Mother Earth and Father Sky .... This is what the space will be held for.
WHAT TO BRING:
Bring whatever you feel you'll want there with you, for inviting release and a care of your heart and the heart of the matter, maybe some cushions and blankets, maybe a photo of a loved one passed, maybe a candle, maybe you carry a cultural tradition and you will bring a piece of that ritual with you...
If you'd like to just bring your raw human self to check it out, that is a radical gift!
If you'd like to bring your slightly hardened and armored self, we welcome you!
You are welcome to come and simply listen and witness with open heart-mind.
You are welcome to bring your own personal or cultural rituals, to bring some art supplies or a journal, perhaps a sign listing what you are mourning, or perhaps you make an art piece during the time that honors your grief... please do, bring YOU...
This will be a co-creation, an expression of our individual and collective sovereignty, by just showing up, to care for and express ourselves, trust that we are held in this aspect of being human and to navigate holding each other in it.
Let us de-privatize our emotions and re-member ourselves in the commons (the plaza)!
The commons exist for sharing what we have in common!"
*Do take note to check yourself for cultural appropriation, particularly around the holiday of Thanksgiving and all of the lies, betrayal and genocide that First Nations have gone through predominantly outside of the American public's radar in addition to being stereotyped, tokenized and their traditions and sacred objects commodified. How can our choices demonstrate respect and solidarity and a willingness to participate in the rebalancing of things..."
A note from Ben Morgen, Santa Fe host:
Come be part of A Social Mourning Place and help hold a public space for people to recognize our collective tendency to avoid feeling the true impact of issues in our community and world. The power of this space is created by each of us choosing to step out of isolation. It is created by we, the people, we as community, holding space together for this cleansing, healing, liberating and unifying work to be done.
