(M)OTHER: Queer Practices for Nurturing Revolution

On Feburary 26th, 2025 I presented my ongoing project entitled (M)OTHER: Queer Practices for Nurturing Revolution—Comparative Legacies of Osun and Marsha P. Johnson at my alma mater, Ithaca College. I extend my gratitude to the Center for LGBT Education, Outreach, and Services; the Office of Religious and Spiritual Life, and the BIPOC Unity Center for inviting me to present this work. The three part teach-in series included a lecture, a hope-based Florida Water making workshop, and a writing workshop on embodiment, memory-weaving, and carework which were all a joy to my heart to offer. What follows is a portal to the center of this ongoing project that I conceptualize as my personal/spiritual dissertation.

“Mothering is the most revolutionary thing you can do,”

“Iya Mapo” by Stephen Hamilton

Alexis Pauline Gumbs states unapologetically. The book Revolutionary Mothering: Love on the Front Lines edited by Gumbs alongside China Martens and Mai’a Williams serves as a foundational text for this project. While the title of this presentation is directly inspired by Alexis Pauline Gumbs’ chapter in Revolutionary Mothering, entitled “m/other ourselves: a Black queer feminist genealogy for radical mothering”, I chose to distinguish my working of the term “mother” by putting the “m” in parentheses. This is not simply a stylistic choice, but a representation of Ifa and the Yoruba language’s influence on my conceptualization of this topic. The parentheses are representative of Iyamapo, an artisan orisa. According to Stephen Hamilton in his essay Alaro: Indigo and the Power of Women in Yorubaland, Iyamapo “taught indigo dyeing, and many other crafts such as pottery, hair braiding, weaving, and palm oil production” to humans, specifically women. He goes on to state that Iyamapo is representative of an “abundance of resources that cannot be dissociated from the marketplace” that is garnered through one's crafts and creativity.

Misogynoir, homophobia, and transphobia cannot be separated from capitalism. A large part of what Marsha P. Johnson fought for is job and housing security. Still today, many Black and Brown queer and trans people face job insecurity and houselessness due to discrimination on multiple levels of society. I invoke Iyamapo’s energy as a prayer that QTBIPOC (Queer, Trans, Black, Indigenous, People of Color) and all oppressed peoples can enjoy the abundance of this earth freely and safely and are able to harvest the fruits of their labor without wealth hoarders stealing it. A prayer for a world in which everyone has the time, energy, and resources to devote to their creativity as a means to being wealthy in the holistic sense of the word. Iyamapo is also associated with the vulva, hence the parentheses, to honor the miraculous process of being a bridge for a spirit to come earthside no matter the gender identity of the birthing parent. Ifa’s conceptualization of odu, ibi, iwa pele-- balanced and gentle character, the good condition, and the destiny of humans in relation to the earth are also underpinnings of my approach to this theme (M)othering, othered by parentheses.

SECTION LIST:

✓ WHAT LOVE IS AND WHAT IT AIN’T

✓ INSPIRATION + HOPE

✓ MIRRORS AS SITES OF CONNECTION

✓ (M)OTHER: BEING MOVED BY ‘THE OTHER’

✓ THE POWER OF ADORNMENT

✓ MOTHERING AS AN OTHERING PROCESS

✓ MOTHERING FROM INSIDE THE CHILD

CROSS POLLINATING: MEDIA LIST

Books:

  • Africana Nations and the Power of Black Sacred Imagination: Obeah, Orisa & Religious Identity in Trinidad, Volume II: Orisa by Dianne M. Stewart

  • Ancestors Said: 365 Introspections for Emotional Healing by Ehime Ora

  • Cruising Utopia: The Then and There of Queer Futurity by Jose Munoz

  • Ezili’s Mirrors: Imagining Black Queer Genders by Omise’eke Natasha Tinsley

  • Liliane by Ntozake Shange

  • Revolutionary Mothering: Love on the Frontlines edited by Alexis Pauline Gumbs, China Martens, Mai’a Williams

  • The Temple of My Familiar by Alice Walker

  • Yurugu: An Afrikan-Centered Critique of European Cultural Thought and Behavior by Marimba Ani

Articles:

  • “Age, Race, Class, and Sex: Women Redefining Difference” by Audre Lorde

  • “Alaro: Indigo and the Power of Women in Yorubaland” by Stephen Hamilton

  • “Dear April: The Aesthetics of Black Miscellanea” by Katherine McKittrick

  • “Must Identity Movements Self-Destruct? A Queer Dilemma” by Joshua Gamson

  • “Punks, Bulldaggers, and Welfare Queens: The Radical Potential of Queer Politics” by Cathy Cohen

Visual Media:

  • The Death and Life of Marsha P. Johnson directed by David France (film)

  • Pay It No Mind: The Life and Times of Marsha P. Johnson directed by Michael Kasino (film)

  • @smallthingsgrowing with Dr. Robina Khalid (Instagram page)

  • Yoruba Lessons with Aderonke (Youtube page)

HOW TO MAKE LOVE POWERFUL

⦾

HOW TO MAKE LOVE POWERFUL ⦾

INTRODUCTORY QUESTION #1


Loretta J. Ross poses the following question in the preface of Revolutionary Mothering: Love on the Front Lines, and it serves as the guiding light of this project:

“How do we get from a conservative definition of mothering as a biological destiny to mothering as a liberating practice that can thwart runaway capitalism?”

INTRODUCTORY QUESTION #2


How do Osun and Marsha P. Johnson’s actions align with “mothering as an othering” process? To identify with another so deeply that the societal rendering of “the other” becomes irrelevant. To embody and enact other worlds— freer ones— with loving devotion despite the lack of a popularly shared vision.

INTRODUCTORY QUESTION #3


Both Osun as an Orisa who is associated with beauty and sometimes referred to as the first feminist, and Marsha P. Johnson as a drag queen who has been arrested for wearing makeup have lived lives that testify to the politics of beauty. What do they teach us about the role of aesthetics and adornment in revolution? How is beautification a mothering process?

The purpose of the “Iterating Questions” section is to provide functional questions to help us embed the themes of (M)OTHER into our daily lives.

PROMPTS FOR ONGOING INQUIRY AND REFLECTION

ITERATING QUESTION #1

As internalized shame often presents itself as externalized disgust, as we are living in an increasingly binaried/polarized world that causes division even within groups of people who are ultimately fighting for freer worlds, I pose this self-reflective question: What do I other that actually needs mothering (nurturing) within myself?”

When I see someone as polar opposite of me, what does that person symbollically represent? When I disembody the energy from the person and see them as a lesson, what are they meant to teach me? What aspects of my character are they helping me develop?

When I look at myself beyond the labels of my identity, where can I find that energy/concept/way of being that I see as “other” within myself/relationships?

PROMPTS FOR ONGOING INQUIRY AND REFLECTION

ITERATING QUESTION #2

Thinking of how the water holds our bodies, slows our movements, and lubricates joints— What/where are our designated locations to bend so we don’t break as we create a peoples’ movement? How do we make home in these joint places of bending and lending into the other? What are our practices/rituals for lubrication at these joint locations?

PROMPTS FOR ONGOING INQUIRY AND REFLECTION

ITERATING QUESTION #3

There are myriad ways to show up in world-building liberation movements. I pray that as a collective we don’t get stuck in the narrow perspective that marching and giving speeches are the pinnacle of activism. Let these questions be guides to embodying your role in world-building: Thinking of legacy beyond physical children, how do I want to be remembered? Who specifically do my gifts, talents, and desires position me to serve the best and most authentically?

“Your calling is your call to action” -Crystal Bennett Harris

PROMPTS FOR ONGOING INQUIRY AND REFLECTION

ITERATING QUESTION #4

Just as birthing parents do not wait until the child is born to make lifestyle shifts, we too must make the necessary changes in our lifestyles whill we incubate revolution to ensure the worlds we are birthing are healthy. Figuratively speaking, the revolution eats what we eat.

“Similar to manifestation, motherhood is another context where entities are made corporeally present and visible through the corporeal materiality of other entities.” (Stewart, 150)

What spirit are you carrying (embodying) and nourishing with your daily consumption and actions? Is it a spirit of expansion or confinement?

MY APPROACH

POLLINATOR PEDAGOGY/ POETRY

I identify myself as a pollinator, which to me is an anti-hegemonic understanding of what it means to be an artist and educator. While I honor the sweet specificity and integrity of my work within itself, I celebrate the ecosystem of beings, texts, and miscellanea that nourish my work. Being a pollinator is akin to being a weaver.

All that I do is poetry. All that I could ever do will be poetic. Inspired by language in Katherine McKittrick’s “Dear April: The Aesthetics of Black Miscellanea”, in my work there are moments of intentional opacity and clarity and it requires return for the wisdom in the oscilliation between both to be revealed in a fuller form. The intention behind this digital space is to create a place of return.

PARTICIPANT LOVE

  • "When Cyepress talks, time bends around the place people are gathered to listen and the energy feels like a calm eye of the storm of the world outside. They build a place where we do not escape from reality but allow ourselves to be tethered to it in gentler ways. Cyepress' presence, focus, and flow of energy brought me into a place of grounded connection and a burning deseire to connect the pieces of myself to not just my traditions and what I consider home, but to everyone who is choosing life every single day and cares for others so they feel supported in doing the same."

    Frankie V.

  • "I am so grateful to have had the opportunity to attend (M)OTHER. It was a tender respite that stoked conversation between oneself, community, and the divine. Cyepress' offering so elegantly illustrated the queer exapnisveness of the term 'Mother' and explored the many forms that care work can take when we divest from the individualism of Empire and invest in our collective thriving. This and every space facilitated by Cyepress grounds, affirms, and uplifts Black Femme-hood invaluably, especially in th emidst of an ever destabalizing climate. My heart, body, and soul were thoroughly nourished by (M)other. It was a refuge, a renewal, and a reprieve."

    -Taylor T.

  • "(M)OTHER felt like a performance and conversation at the same time. I admire Cyepress' dedication to practicing the type of future they want to see and their presence beckons others to do the same."

    Jamie L.

MEET THE CREATOR

CYEPRESS BRATHWAITE

Cyepress Ifamayami Brathwaite (they/them) is a non-binary Trinidadian-American multimedia artist and interdisciplinary scholar. They currently work closely with words, clay, and oil paint and are wanting to unfurl more into their love for dance, collage, and creative direction. They create portals for people to engage with African spiritual traditions and Queer Black Feminist literature. Cyepress weaves their wisdom as a doula, herbalist, facilitator, and student of Ifá to encourage themself and others to re-channel our energy from production for oppressors into creation for our lineages and communities. Their work is rooted in ancestral reverence, exilic exploration, pleasure activism, and freedom dreaming. Cyepress received their B.A. in Queerness and Black Identity Politics through Ithaca College’s. Integrative Studies Program. A poet at heart, Cyepress is their ancestors’ baby.

Want the recording and transcript?

If this portal into (M)OTHER: Queer Practices for Nurturing Revolution resonated with you and you want to step fully into the world of this equally intellectual and spiritual offering, email me at cyepress0cypher@gmail.com to request the link to the video recording and transcript! Your email will be added to my mailing list in exchange of these resources and so you can stay in touch with upcoming events and ongoing musings!

Let’s Work Together

If (M)OTHER: Queer Practices for Nurturing Revolution is in alignment with a project you’re designing or a vision you’re enacting, let’s collaborate! Invite me to your campus, conference, panel, etc. to deep dive into the watery methodology of mothering <3 Or let’s dream something new together!