"The Future Loves You Already" Premiere & Benefit Print Presale
A Celebration
Join me for the World Premiere Screening of “The Future Loves You Already,” with special guests Mindy Tsonas Choi and Kerra Bolton.
May 13, 2021 | 7:00-7:45pm EST
Why This Collaboration?
The poem is aspirational. It's a vision and an invitation. And while that is lovely and hopefully inspiring, my deepest wish is that it will also serve as a call to reflection and action.
After all, art has the power to instigate change and move us in our real lives. As this project evolved over the first few months of 2021, it became important to me for it to have a "real world" connection, one that would challenge us to not only imagine a different future, but also to do the hard work of looking at and addressing the places of disconnect between where we've been, where we are, and where we say we want to go.
Mindy Tsonas Choi and Kerra Bolton are two such people who are doing just that in profound and powerful ways. Their life's work is transformative on both personal and collective levels. The poem imagines a future that Mindy and Kerra are actually creating, which is why I am thrilled to be in creative collaboration with them.
The Be Seen Project is a community-based model that centers and uplifts BIPOC artists and activists whose work is not only challenging old narratives but actively bringing new ways of being to life. Mindy's work reflects so many of the words in the poem -- honest, joyful, accountable, belonging.
Return of the Black Madonna documents one woman’s epic journey of learning to swim and dive sunken slave ships. She is literally diving into both the past and the future simultaneously. The word "reclamation" appears in the poem, and I see Kerra's work as an embodiment of that.
Limited Edition Print
One hundred copies of a numbered print by artist Liz Kalloch are available for preorder. Each print will be signed by Jena, with inscriptions optional. Pay from the heart. For every print sold, 80% of the proceeds will go to support these two amazing projects.
The Future Loves You Already
The future is queer. The future is poetry. The future is every shade of brown. The future is indigenous. The future is reclamation. The future is accountable. The future is joyful. The future is honest. The future is ancient. The future is unimaginable. The future is breathing its first breath and crying its first cry. The future is a midwife, a birthing body, a moment to grieve, a bowl of food, a shelter of belonging. The future strips the wallpaper and reveals the raw beauty of what never needed to be improved upon. The future is a forest grown from ash and an ocean free of trash. The future speaks truth to power until power is no longer a weapon but a sacred tool to wield with care. The future throws its head back in laughter. The future takes up so much room we can't help but expand in her presence. The future eats fascists for breakfast. The future isn't waiting for you to be ready. The future loves you already. The future honks in the driveway. Get in. Let's go.
© 2021 Jena Schwartz. All rights reserved.