Collaging Freedom: Your Voices, My Hands, Our Liberation - Part I

First Collages of Liberation

This Juneteenth season, I heard a call, a visceral, soul-deep call to collage freedom. Not just my own visions, but yours. I knew in my bones that this couldn’t be a solitary act. Liberation is collective. It is sensual, ancestral, embodied. And so I reached out and asked:

What does freedom look like to you?

What does it sound like? Smell like? Taste like?

What does it feel like, in your body, your spirit, your soul?

I invited you to leave a voice message through SpeakPipe (https://www.speakpipe.com/msg/s/407353/1/n4a0y6tbtmuhu0jj), and you responded with sacred vulnerability, honesty, joy, longing, and clarity. You gave me your visions. You trusted me with your liberation.

And now, I’ve begun to collage them.

The First Collages: A Birthplace in the Catskills

The first pieces were created during my very first author residency, at Milkwood in the Catskills, New York, a sanctuary for creatives. I attended a wholesome week on the farm with BIPOC writers and illustrators. In this quiet cradle of creativity, I birthed not only collages but seeded future works that were already stirring with life. I am so humbled to have brought your voices into that sacred space. Your words shaped my days. Your visions lived at my fingertips.

Every element, every texture, every layered image was a prayer and a translation. Your audio became art. Your voice became visual.

I am honored beyond language.

Voice Submission: Marah

Audio:

Liberation Collaged:

Collage by Nyasha Williams

Voice Submission: Nyasha Williams (Myself)

Audio:

Liberation Collaged:

Collage by Nyasha Williams

Voice Submission: Danae Edmonds

Audio:

Liberation Collaged:

Collage by Nyasha Williams

Voice Submission: Keegan Williams

Audio:

Liberation Collaged:

Collage by Nyasha Williams

Voice Submission: Adrianna

Audio:

Liberation Collaged:

Collage by Nyasha Williams

More Collages Are Coming…

To those who have already sent in your voice: thank you.

To those who feel called but haven’t yet: there is still time.

I will continue collaging until the voicemails stop.

So if you're moved, curious, open, please tell me your freedom story.

Tell me what liberation feels like. Smells like. Sounds like. I want to know. I want to see it with you.

Leave me your voice here

(https://www.speakpipe.com/msg/s/407353/1/n4a0y6tbtmuhu0jj)

Let your liberation speak, and I will continue to honor it through art.

With reverence and immense Black joy,

Nyasha