the WILD

the WILD is a series of pop-up bookstores and art experiences inspired by the tradition of Black fugitivity initiated by myself and co-founder Amsterdam Black Women — Tracian Meikle.

the WILD intentionally cultivates a space of disorder and rejects notions of respectability and order as a standard.

the WILD is a meeting ground for Black togetherness that cultivates a liberated space through the curation of books and events.

the WILD seeks to be an otherwise space where art serves as a wayfinder to liberation. 

“We must, on behalf of this alignment, refuse that which was first refused to us and in this refusal reshape desire, reorient hope, reimagine possibility and do so separate from the fantasies nestled into rights and respectability. “

- Stefano Harney and Fred Moten, The Undercommons

W139, 2023

Collectivity is a messy, complicated thing.

In the wake of our disappointment with the Blacker Blackness Temporary Masters at the Sandberg Institute, we attempted to give ourselves the exhibition we didn’t get to have when we graduated in June.

We wanted this space to be an honoring of our collective experience, a container for healing, a real engagement in each other's work, a questioning and exploration of black art and aesthetics, a celebration of one another, a last ditch attempt at true collectivity.

Alas. We discovered there was too much hurt, wounds were still too fresh. And so what was 12 artists, is now three.

Here, now, we simply take up space, experiment as individuals and continue to dream of collectivity. 

W139, 2021

As part of a larger installation at W139 in Amsterdam, the WILD set up a pop-up bookshop and community space inspired by our aunties. We played with concepts of transparency and opacity

the WILD contends that conversations that claim to bridge polarities often function as ways to silence Blackness.

the WILD isn’t interested in this kind of solidarity.

the WILD is a space outside of polarity, is not part of the war, is not at the peace table.

the WILD asserts its right to opacity, our right to be left alone.

NeverNeverLand, 2020

The first iteration of the WILD was a three-day curated exhibition and book-buying experience.

On offer was fiction, non-fiction, and poetry that imagines, documents, and strategizes the possibilities of a blackness that freely and joyfully inhabits a space of otherness. These books are guides, folk maps, blueprints to liberation.