Seeds of Survival: Practices of Radical Imagination

“The destiny of Earthseed is to take root among the stars.”
— Octavia E. Butler, Parable of the Sower

July 20, 2024 marked the beginning of Octavia E. Butler’s trailblazing 1993 feminist science fiction book Parable of the Sower, from the Earthseed trilogy. In light of this meaningful date, artists Müge Yilmaz and Anna Hoetjes initiated Gathering Earthseed; a full-day gathering at W139 that emerges from the legacy and spirit of Butler’s work and her literary universe.

As co-curator, I organized an afternoon of workshops. My curation was guided by the concept of Black feminist fugitivity, drawing on its principles to select and collaborate with facilitators. Through these workshops, I aimed to foster an environment of exploration, community, and critical engagement, aligned with the days focus on radical imagination.

This session, curated by Marly Pierre-Louis, takes Lauren Olamina’s survival strategies of interdependence and speculation as key to collective survival. Marly will hold this collaborative space under the light of Butler’s legacy—centering radical imagination as methodology for Black liberation, knowing that we must practice today for the tomorrow we want to see. Marly has invited James Parnell, Camille Sapara Barton, Fazle Shairmahomed, and Chimira Natanna Obiefule to facilitate parallel workshops during this session, that collectively engage with these strategies for survival through grief tending, personal values and a reconfiguration of labour.