Rest is Resistance & Solo(s): a conversation and joint book release celebration of Tricia Hersey's Rest Is Resistance and Krista Franklin's Solo(s).

From the founder and creator of The Nap Ministry, Rest Is Resistance is a battle cry, a guidebook, a map for a movement, and a field guide for the weary and hopeful. This book is rooted in spiritual energy and centered in Black liberation, womanism, somatics, and Afrofuturism. With captivating storytelling and practical advice, all delivered in Hersey’s lyrical voice and informed by her deep experience in theology, activism, and performance art, Rest Is Resistance is a call to action and manifesto for those who are sleep deprived, searching for justice, and longing to be liberated from the oppressive grip of Grind Culture. Pre-order your copy here.

Solo(s): Krista Franklin is a catalog of visual art and poetry by Chicago-based artist Krista Franklin. Published on the occasion of a 2022 exhibition at DePaul Art Museum in Chicago, Solo(s) brings together the visual, performance, and poetic practice of Chicago-based artist Krista Franklin in one volume. Part poetry collection and part artist book, Solo(s) features documentation of Franklin’s ongoing collage work, handmade paper, book and record covers, and installations as well as her poetry and other writing. Featuring a new essay by curator Ionit Behar, Solo(s) explores Franklin’s practice as it intersects with collaborators across the disciplines of music, literature, and visual art.

Speakers:

Tricia Hersey is a Chicago native who has called Georgia home for the last 12 years. She has over 20 years of experience as a multidisciplinary artist, writer, theologian and community organizer. She is the founder of The Nap Ministry, an organization that examines rest as a form of resistance and reparations by curating spaces for the community to rest via community rest activations, immersive workshops, performance art installations, and social media. Her research interests include Black liberation theology, womanism, somatics, and cultural trauma. She is the author of the upcoming book Rest is Resistance: A Manifesto which will be published in October 2022. You can learn more about her work and the book at thenapministry.com

Krista Franklin is a writer, performer, and visual artist, the author Too Much Midnight (Haymarket Books, 2020), the artist book Under the Knife (Candor Arts, 2018), and the chapbook Study of Love & Black Body (Willow Books, 2012). She is a recipient of the Helen and Tim Meier Foundation for the Arts Achievement Award and the Joan Mitchell Foundation Painters and Sculptors Grant. Her visual art has been exhibited at DePaul Art Museum, Poetry Foundation, Konsthall C, Rootwork Gallery, Museum of Contemporary Photography, Studio Museum in Harlem, Chicago Cultural Center, National Museum of Mexican Art, and the set of 20th Century Fox’s Empire. She is published in Poetry, Black Camera, The Offing, Vinyl, and a number of anthologies and artist books.

Coya Paz (moderator)(she/her) is the Artistic Director of Free Street Theater, and an Associate Professor in The Theatre School at DePaul University. She is the co-author, with Chloe Johnston, of Ensemble-Made Chicago: A Guide to Devised Theater. Above all, she believes in the power of poetry and performance to build community towards social change.

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This event is sponsored by Haymarket Books, the DePaul Art Museum and is supported by DePaul's Center for Black Diaspora. While all our events are free,, we ask that those who are able make a solidarity donation in support of our important publishing and programming work.