We collected 40 pieces of writing during summer 2021 at the Manifestation, a public art experience for meditation, stimulation, and liberation—an Act Of Mercy. While we craft what we are calling the Manifestation Manual, highlighting the process, design, and dreaming of the project, you can witness a selection of the writing we gathered from our community, as they explored the prompts at each pop-up location below.

6.12.21@Blackstone Square Park, South End
What wills you to wake? How will you fight your flattening?

“My sons will me to wake, to do, to be. I want them to see the possibilities in themselves. Smiling, laughing, loving, resting, doing, being, what I feel in each moment. Stretching when ithurts and stopping when spirit says so. Being bold when it’s scary. Speaking when my voice isn’t requested. Adventures, love & joy always next.” -DA

“I wake to the promise of a new day to my ancestor’s blessings over me @ night to the revolution not being silenced. I will let my light shine by bringing my gifts forward and supporting others as they step into their light. Next for me Summer of exploration. Lifetime of black girl joy!”-NL

“love of the people, of self, of story

i’ll keep on willing

      witnessing

      wildernessing 

      love 

release forward” -JO

“I wrote a poem the other day about my favorite place. It’s my tangled bedsheets with the morning sun painting my toes orange. But that’s not even the best part. The best part is the realization. Discovering Finding. Finding myself alive. Not yet knowing my own humanity, my own identity having yet forgotten all but the last breath of last night’s hallucination. And as the remembering happens so does the forgiving, the renewing. The unbearable curiosity that forces my feet to wood floor. I’d be denying myself if I didn’t admit my own desire to be flattened, my own secret wish to be the spectacle that satisfies. The high that you need. Opium, Coke to the gums. That one good thing that feels good to consume. I’d be denying myself if I didn’t say how this drives me and makes me want to take myself apart all at once.” -TM

“I will fight my flattening by pushing them away and believe in myself and believe in myself to. What’s next for me is when I am 20, I will be a toy maker.” -MR

“Time = the world

keeps going

I will show up

& BE MY AUTHENTIC

SELF!

MANIFEST

I will no longer hold

back my creativity

My time is NOW!

My time is NOW!” -EA

“I like waking up to go to school because it makes me happy

I like to take baths and talk to my mom ♡” -AJ

6.26.21 @Marcella Playground, Roxbury 

What wills you to wake? Who are you protecting, what are you teaching, what are you growing?

“What wills me to wake is my son Cassius. On days where I know it will hurt to wake up, to continue on...knowing my seed needs me pushes me through I am protecting my son, myself and women like me. I am teaching self-love and self-defense through  music & words. I will grown a garden literally and figuratively.  I will grow my advocacy business to help mothers like me. I will grow sunflowers to make me happy.”-LB

“What wills me to wake is that today is new, fresh + untouched. So maybe something great and radical will come in a new way - beyond that what I have imagined. I am protecting me. I am teaching that loving unconditionally is necessary + vulnerability is freeing and Brave. I will grow - grounded + unshakeable PEACE.” -FXB

“MY FAMILY

MY SIBLINGS

ABCD TO JACK

FOOD” -BB

“PURSUIT OF DIVINE PURPOSE. TO FULFILL GIFTS & POTENTIAL BE THE GIVER OF LIGHT, RECEIVER OF LOVE. I AM  PROTECTING MYSELF, MY CHILDREN, MY WOMAN,MY CHILDREN’S GUIDES, MY COMMUNITY I AM TEACHING SELF LOVE, LIFE APPRECIATION, SELF MASTERY, DISCIPLINE, TO LOVE TO LEARN. I WILL GROW FRIENDSHIPS, FINANCIAL ACCOUNTS, SOCIAL NETWORKS, LEADERS, INTELLECTUAL & SPIRITUAL STRENGTH, THOSE WHO LOVE ME AND ARE INSPIRED; THOSE WHO ARE CONFUSED AND THREATENED...THEY TOO WILL STILL RECEIVE LIFE LESSONS THROUGH LOVE.” -MM

“The light@ the end of the tunnel...aka the life God created me to live. The thought that my purpose, my reason for being on the earth, is to do things & be a light that transcends my own understanding...is equally exhilarating as it is astounding. Little old me...what could God have possibly seen…Little old me...in all my mess...He wanted. He wants. He pursues...relentlessly...w/ love...and encouragement...and GRACE...and peace...and LIGHT. I protected my family for a very long time...both given & chosen… over myself. My inner child was betrayed and so she learned NOT to trust Adult me. Her voice & self-preservation equated  destruction in my adult WORLD. But that was then. Today, we protect each other. We teach  & learn how to harness our power through the Most authentic presentation of us to the WORLD. Our Light belongs here. Our SEED is our light. Out (the community) collective light will Heal the land. Peace is calling to our bloodlines - past, present, & future.” -ID

“Possibility, everyday there is potential to grow. Possibility to learn something new. Possibility to be loved a new way. Possibility for new experiences. Possibility wills me to wake. I am protecting my future. Every decision I make is for my future. I am teaching myself patience and grace. I am the hardest on myself and that radiates outward. If I can extend grace to myself it will make it easier to extend grace to others. I am teaching myself that “here” is okay and I will get “There” when I am supposed to.I will grow...myself.”

7.10.21 @Jamaica Pond, JP 

What wills you to wake? What do you want to remember?

“I’m still here!

Holding happiness

The gifts I have been undeservedly given

both by society and by the divine.

I want to remember

this breeze

Being 50

Joy in my friend’s work

Gratitude for the 

precious people life has

brought me

I want to remember that

I occupy the most privileged

position - usually - that my

whiteness takes up more room than

I can understand - I want to remember

to try to understand that

While loving this self

I was undeservedly given

and loving others.” -CJ

“Many things. The will wakes me even, even when the rest of me wants to remain. Asleep. God, my babies, the universe. LOVE wills me to wake. My ancestors. The deep feeling that there is so much more to do. That’s both exciting and incredibly overwhelming and beautiful and frightening and real. I’m so thankful that it continues, though. I prefer to be woke. LOVE. JOY. Laughter. I want to remember deep and intimate conversations. I want to remember adventures. I want to remember my family. I want to remember my friends. I want to remember the feeling I get from making stranger smile and then making me smile. I want to remember that there is more good in the world than bad. I want to remember me. The real me. The me before. And the me before, before. Love....and love and love and love.” -DW

“What wills me to wake up is continuing my shows on Netflix, calling my friend Mark everyday at 4:30, enjoying a meal in front of my TV, seeing my best friend every Friday.” -ATT

“My name the one given to me that I own …One of the many things that was decided before I was born I ask myself to find the meaning, the purpose, the strength, the energy of what got me to this very space today I am both aware & unaware of so much I want to live as my true self I want to feel apart of something larger than myself be apart of a community of people growing with the space around us looking  back at the lessons and tools that we have already learned and hold within from our ancestors. My truth, which is waiting for me to hear it & feel it deeply I want to remember I am not alone even if I can’t yet see or feel the strength of the energy that is mine…

Yet!” -JO

“WHAT WILLS ME TO WAKE is my family, particularly my mother, an her mother, and all the women who come before them, even though we did not meet. WHAT WILLS ME TO WAKE are also the women who will come after me. How can I use each day I’m blessed to be here a little easier for them? WHAT I ALWAYS WANT TO REMEMBER are all the people that have come before me, and how much they’ve given for me to be here. I always want to remember that and appreciate that.” -AS

“My name

Ifé Franklin

what wills me to wake

Love, My Ancestors,

Art, Passion,

Evolution

What do I want to remember

Joy, How to relax,

I want to remember

NOT 2 FORGET

MY GREATNESS

That becoming an Elder (being an elder) is beautiful” -IF

“My brother & my

Best friend who both 

left this Journey

before bearing

The Fruits of

their love

& influences.

I think about them

DAILY.” -RB

“energy wills me to wake people, and the ability to uplift  them wills me to wake. To open my eyes and feel nurtured and heard, is a feeling that wills me to wake. with all of that said, I want to remember these feelings. I want My experiences to feel familiar. I want to remember how I felt. Right now and whenever I feel anything that uplifts me, my spirit & those I love.” -JR

“I want to remember in July 2021 I really started to receive everything I wanted and imagined! I am worthy and I am deserving and I put in the work to receive it all and some. The people crowd me and I’m meeting my village.  I want to remember the turning point of when all was well. It is so good and feels so good I made it. Asé” -SS

“When I think about what wills me to wake up, It’s purpose. I always believed as a child that I was chosen to persevere legacies. And my own family and friends would nickname me the “Golden Child”. My soul daily strives for greatness. I want to always remember the lessons my ancestors instilled in me. I will always remember my father, my best friend who passed away in 2020. My father now lives through me.” -JS

“I wake up for the dreams that come in the day. I wake up to connect what happened before to today and the tomorrow that feels out of reach. I wake up so that I can join the work of connecting the circle, connecting the ancient to the future. I wake up so I can serve myself and the ecosystem. I wake up to continue to labor these dreams of freedom and life, for what I am birthing now and what I will birth. I can’t forget all that I have been gifted. I want to remember these gifts, I want to remember that we are all connected and interdependent.” -KS

“Today I hold pain deep

Within—the ties that bind me together are stronger than those that can tear me apart —continue to try and have a sense of spiritual calmness what I can’t forget is the love of “mom” I need to remember always to be true to oneself.” -KM

“What wills me to wake is knowing I  have a niece here that still needs whatever my presence has to offer. I must not forget that…I want to remember who I am,and what I stand for. I want to remember that I am worthy. I want to remember who sees me, And treat them with kindness—purposely pour into them because they’re the ones pouring into me.

I just want to remember.” -TM

MORE SOON

ARCHIVE

Manifestation is an invitation to our community to sit a while with one’s self and thoughts, both the vast and the precious. The installation is comprised of a seat, a table, and the writing prompts and tools you might need to name and render your ideas into reality. Language as a vehicle for freedom dreams and an entity from which we draw strength is central to Mother Mercy’s work. We believe in writing as vital to chronicling creative processes, untangling new ideas, and connecting with self and spirit.

Our intention is to collect 40 pieces of writing from 40 people who visit and spend time at the Manifestation, with the option to remain anonymous. The eventual aim is to incorporate these community-generated works into another public art project. Our work has largely focused on incubating artists through their creative, spiritual, and professional practice, guided by “proces is the project” as a key principle. With this work of art, we hope to open up the portal to our collective dreamspace towards Black liberation, offering our community time to take part in their own reflection and creation with the possibility of coming away feeling more enlivened and more free.

This experience has been conjured in collaboration between designer-in-residence Samantha Rivera and founder JME. Much graditutate to designer Jemuel Stephenson and artist Kristen Stain for their contributions in bringing this piece to life. Manifestation is the first project in the series Acts of Mercy, public art for meditation, stimulation, and liberation, which will unfold in the Boston area over the course of 2021.

We invite you to take a seat, manifest with us for 15 minutes, and then share a bit about your experience. Click the date and location you’d like to reserve. You’ll be directed to a new page to schedule a time and you will receive your ticket via email. While we hope you will register in advance, walk ups are possible.

follow us to witness the process