THIS SATURDAY IN NYC: BIRDS FLYING BACKWARDS 🪽 HEALING ARTS FOR CARIBBEAN SOLIDARITY
Join us from 1-5 pm at MoCADA!
To avoid burying the lede for my fellow attention deficit siblings: Please join me this Saturday, July 19 for Birds Flying Backwards 🪽a day of healing arts for Caribbean solidarity at MoCADA from 1-5 pm. RSVP for free, and share with your people!
The aim of Birds Flying Backwards is to build cross-racial & cross-class solidarity across NYC’s expansive Caribbean community - those with Black, Asian, Indigenous, and Latine ancestries. Together we will center the lived experience of those most impacted by gender-based violence, seed new relationships, and align our collective visions for a most liberated future. Utilizing the transformative power of art, we’ll strategize plans for further educating/agitating/organizing our communities.
We will be joined by: Ruth Jeannoel from Fanm Saj, Taij Kumarie Moteelall of Media Sutra and Jahajees Rising, Chaday Emmanuel of Connek JA, Simone Jhingoor of Jahajee, DJ Lita of Sonic Liberation Devices, Shay from Hope Alters who will be leading us through a From Haiti to Palestine grounding, Salimata Diakite who will be leading a voice healing workshop, I’ll be leading a zine making workshop, henna artist Maryam Rahim will be there, plus Miranda Deebrah & Blaise Sparda, our resident healers who will be holding down the Wellness Corner <3
We will have a resource table with Know Your Rights zines, handbooks on how to organize rapid response networks in your community from Crown Heights Tenant Union, resources from Artists Against Apartheid, a self-published zine [I’m currently still finalizing] titled Labba & Creek Water which will culminate my incomplete learnings from my year of research on Guyana’s political history, and more.
Come through on Saturday, grab some doubles & pholourie, and continue building with your neighbors! This event is not the end or beginning of anything, just a moment of solidarity among millions more that have and will continue to happen. Read on to learn more about my recent residency and research that catalyzed this event, what we’re fundraising for, and more.
“So between never arriving and always leaving, my spirit swings like a pendulum in the clock of the universe, and if it were to unhinge I would be a bird flying backwards forever…” — Mahadai Das, Departing
Long time, no chat! I have missed writing for you all. However, the last year has been consumed by many things, including my participation in the 2024-2025 Bandung Residency stewarded by Asian American Arts Alliance and the Museum of Contemporary African Diasporan Art.
It’s been 70 years since the first Bandung Conference in Indonesia that brought together 29 Asian & African countries, most newly independent, to discuss the material and cultural implications of further decolonization. An irresistible spirit of global south solidarity which they called the “Bandung Spirit” emerged, and 10 principles of solidarity were published. A new Tricontinental dossier explored the building of this spirit, and if it has since dissipated (spoiler - it has). The residency I have been participating in, named after this conference, has the goal of reviving the spirit by incubating projects that build solidarity across Black and Asian community in NYC. This always necessary task is even more urgent as this administration ramps up attacks targeting our migrants, our queer & trans siblings, our workers, our bodily autonomy, and our youth.
The project I proposed in my application was to conduct research (through a queer-feminist lens) on a revolutionary period of time in Guyana’s post-independence history during which cross-racial socialist political parties & orgs (Working People’s Alliance, Red Thread, etc.) took root and galvanized many, ushering in a new political consciousness that replaced ethnic politics with revolutionary class solidarity that threatened not just their opposition but Western imperialism. It should be noted that this revolutionary wave was not unique to Guyana, but throughout the Caribbean — Cuba, Trinidad & Tobago, Jamaica, Grenada, and more had working people uprising against oppressive living & working conditions, colonization, and corruption. So much so, that many revolutionary leaders in this region at the time were targeted and murdered (I wonder by who?).
“The ones we love are enemies of the state.” — Sophocles, Antigone
My goal in doing this research was to learn from our history, understanding that while it was groundbreaking and revolutionary — it wasn’t perfect. To go back in time and gather lessons that could support in the building of a new future where Caribbean people are abundantly safe, empowered, and self-determined. To pull out lessons of solidarity that can be applied across movements, but specifically for me and my work in the gender justice movement where I organize with folks like Jahajee to end gender-based violence and rape culture in our community.
I began this research by digging into books, essays, articles, archives, and films. I spoke with my family members and community members who had lived through this time period, and peers who had done similar research. I even visited Guyana for the first time in March 2025 with my family to deepen into my exploration. The first thing I learned was that one year is NOT enough time to complete all of the research necessary, but I did learn so much, and plan to continue the work (who wanna fund me?!).
Now let’s take it full circle. This research was the foundation upon which I curated and organized Birds Flying Backwards, a day of healing arts for Caribbean solidarity happening this Saturday, July 19 at MoCADA in Downtown Brooklyn!
The aim of Birds Flying Backwards is to build cross-racial & cross-class solidarity across NYC’s expansive Caribbean community - those with Black, Asian, Indigenous, and Latine ancestries. Together we will center the lived experience of those most impacted by gender-based violence, seed new relationships, and align our collective visions for a most liberated future. Utilizing the transformative power of art, we’ll strategize plans for further educating/agitating/organizing our communities.
We will be joined by incredible artists and organizers like Ruth Jeannoel from Fanm Saj, Taij Kumarie Moteelall of Media Sutra and Jahajees Rising, Chaday Emmanuel of Connek JA, Simone Jhingoor of Jahajee, DJ Lita of Sonic Liberation Devices, Shay from Hope Alters who will be leading us through a From Haiti to Palestine grounding, Salimata Diakite who will be leading a voice healing workshop, I’ll be leading a zine making workshop, henna artist Maryam Rahim will be there, plus Miranda Deebrah & Blaise Sparda, our resident healers who will be holding down the Wellness Corner.
There will be a writing workshop, sound healing, nourishment, collective writing, political ed, henna, and more. We will have a resource table with Know Your Rights zines, handbooks on how to organize rapid response networks in your community, resources from Artists Against Apartheid, a self-published zine [I’m currently still finalizing] titled Labba & Creek Water which will culminate my incomplete learnings from my year of research, and more.
After the writing workshop, folks will be encouraged to submit their writings to an upcoming zine titled, naturally, Birds Flying Backwards that will be printed via Secret Riso Club.
The event is free and open to the public, but donations are encouraged (especially from non-Caribbean allies) and will be going towards: Connek JA, a resource center for LGBTQIA+ Caribbean people worldwide (as well as the producer’s of Jamaica’s first ball!), and Connecting Humanity to provide e-sims for Gazans resisting genocide in Palestine. If you can’t make it but still want to donate, you can Venmo me at @priyafdadlani with the subject, “Birds Flying Backwards” and I’ll include it into our final count!
And if you made it this far, please enjoy my pride & joy, my soca/ reggae/ dancehall/ afrobeats playlist that has been my saving grace over the last couple years. A sour mood has absolutely nothing on an early morning wine.