Restorying Agency Launch

Restorying Agency is a self-guided tour that invites us to visit sites of reconnection between us and metro Detroit ecologies. The metro Detroit region bears the scars of colonization, industrialism, racism and capitalism —  all of which require exploitation, a sense of separateness, and a way of thinking that sees the earth and other people as material resources. Restorying Agency invites us to connect with life here as it is: interconnected, relational, sacred, scarred, and alive through the development of site-specific art and writing by local creators and journalists. The perspectives of these creators open up new ways to imagine being here, with each other. 

Hosted by Planet Detroit, Restorying Agency will launch one new site-specific project to visit each week, which you are invited to visit. Check it out online and also spend time at the project locations. Projects include art installations, sound walks, interviews, and meditations. Participating artists and writers include: Halima Afi Cassells, Shanna Merola, Billy Mark, Palace Abrams, Molly Leebove, Owólabi Aboyade, Giizhigad, Courtney Wise Randolph and Bridget Quinn. Together we will hear trees speak, honor the traditions of Wahnabezee, visit an emergent garden that provides beyond capitalist relations, breathe with stone ancestors at the foot of the incinerator, consider how to practice interconnection within our daily lives and more. The project will run through October and November of 2021.

Restorying Agency was curated by Bridget Quinn and Owòlabi Aboyade – who work collaboratively in publishing, the facilitation of creative ceremonies, artmaking, and curation. This project is a complement to the zine “Bullet Train: Hopping the Fence to our Ancient Future”, a time capsule of radical culture emerging from Detroit in the summer of 2020. In our work on Waawiiyaatanong, we honor the indigenous people who call this place home (past, present, and future). We honor our elevated ancestors who have brought us here. We honor the spirit(s) of the human and more than humans who move towards liberated, lively, wild, weird and beautiful relationships. Thank you for being here with us.