June 29, 2024 Children of NAN: a Survival Guide is a film for future black femmes by Alisha B Wormsley
Children of NAN: a Survival Guide is a film for future black femmes. A series of performed philosophies, myths, rituals, survival strategies on various landscapes staged in a mobile set handcrafted by Alisha B Wormsley.
Ms Betty told Alisha that The African Healing garden was made for her survival. To survive the violence around her and give her some peace of mind that she could share with her community.
The Temple of our Survival - the mobile film set is a 16 x 20 ft tent quilted on the outside with African American quilting language and text, inside draped with hand printed textiles, handwoven rugs, tapestries, plant medicine, hanging plants, drying herbs, imagery of Wormsley’s ancestors and past video work of Black Matriarchy, a library on Black femme survival, ancestor altars, a footbath, a typewriter, a loom, and crafts for circles. All made, collected by Wormsley. There is an area dedicated to rest, a table and chairs for spades, a section dedicated to meditation, an apothecary, an area to read and write.
Over the next 2 years, the Temple of Our Survival will travel around the country to matriarchal activists, hood witches, healers, makers and liberators to perform one tutorial, lesson or story of their survival.
The next site is St. Louis with Dail Chambers hosting us on her ancestral land. In the fall Wormsley will go to Memphis to spiritual leader, Mama Sadio, then to New Orleans with Black Feminist, Doula, Black Witch University Founder, Mama Lakeesha Harris, and to The Garden of Heavenly Rest in Florida to honor Zora Neale Hurston with Ellen Sebastian Chang. More, cities to follow in 2025. #childrenofnansurvivalguide