The year 2020 has been both destructive and transformative. A roiling pandemic has isolated and divided us. The killings of a seemingly never-ending list of Black Americanskilled out in broad daylight or even sleeping in their own homeshave once more brought a reckoning over racism and racial justice into the forefront of the American consciousness. The toll it's taken has come in devastating ripples, first in human lives, then on our collective livelihoodthe blow it's dealt to commerce and art has been a cruel one-two punch. As night falls earlier and longer, and a contentious election looms, it can all feel sodark.
And yet, we've seen lightresilience and intergenerational collaboration in the name of fighting the good fight. (Or as the late Rep. John Lewis would have said, "Getting into good trouble.") If the moral arc of history bends towards justice, these are the people applying the pressure. We've seen grocers and delivery people and mail carriers become frontline workers; doctors and caregivers and scientists become our guiding stars. We've seen entrepreneurs and artists innovate to survive. (See: the latest offerings of a pared-down but no less creative Fashion Month.) There is still, amid our confusion and anxiety, joy.
Like all of us, musician and artist Solange Knowles has been trying to make sense of these strange and conflicting times. So we invited her to do so here, in her very own Harper's BAZAAR digital cover. She styled herself from a hand-selected roster of all-independent, majority-BIPOC designers; she tapped friend and collaborator Naima Green to help photograph her in isolation; and for her cover story, she shares a series of powerful personal essays and poems that lay bare the private challenges and collective pain, the hard-won triumphs, and, yes, the joy that propels us all ever-forward.
Stillness is goodness.
Ghost catch up. There's nowhere to run, and all the voices you've been hushing, soothing, and cooing yell at you like loud children demanding answers.
The ones you've been saying you'd tend to when the time is right tell you there is no other time.
Then your body follows.
And for a minute there, things can get hard.
And every day you make a choice. To honor, listen, and live.
I once drove across the country watching the landscape change as much as my thoughts.
The moving made me feel more at home than I had been feeling in a long while.
I grew up in tour buses watching flashing images out of tiny windows in my bunk, never still enough to memorize names or street signs. Then came the house in Idaho, Houston, back to Los Angeles, New York, New Orleans. Summers in Dakar, Thanksgivings in Jamaica. Movement has been my Holy Ghost.
For a while there was a Big Bang! I was floating and jumping and coasting and cartwheeling and cruising and gleaming, fingers and toes spread wide, palms facing the light, heart beating in cursive. I was jumping in rivers and dancing on tree trunks. It was the most glorious of all my days.
But again, Ghost catch up. And deep, old memories I had stored in hidden parts of myself for decades wouldnt just stay in my shoulders, or ribs, or chest breaths, or blood test anymore. They came out, and they came out swinging.
Most of the work Ive made has been about knowing where youve been to know where you're going. Knowing who youve been to know who you are becoming. Going homedeep home, past homes, mother's home, father's hometo define home. I had answered these questions for myself and that felt good, but I had omitted truths that I just couldnt stand to make a part of my home. They didnt belong in my kitchen, or closets, or even in a shoebox under my bed.
My stillness started with my body. It refused to be, to go. Id look to moss trees asking for answers as if they could talk back to me.
I heard a voice saying you deserve joy. Applause from my loved ones and heroes wasnt gonna do.
Another voice, a critical one, said you got a lot of nerve chasing joy and freedom when you already have so much, but I went for it anyway.
I honored, listened, and lived.
Some days were a real pain in the ass. Some were the most beautiful days of my life. This was a different kind of joy. I didnt need to skip in the sun to feel it. Joy was the sleep I got after releasing secrets from my bones. Joy was telling the truth. Joy was making a song that I didnt care ever saw the light of day. Joy was taking a trip alone, and just sitting and staring at the water and seeing my reflection and thinking to myself, Damn I'm fine. Joy was having nothing on my calendar, and choosing what to do with my time. Joy was having a friend who didnt care how ugly I cried, always inviting and encouraging me to just be, however that looked that day. Joy was discovery. Joy was having someone show me beautiful worlds of their own and trusting in the journey. Joy was letting go of control. Joy was just sitting. Joy was seeing how far I had come and waving at my shadows. Joy was accepting that the work is never done, but that every day is a choice.
Soon I began to feel things that I never felt before. I began to understand who I was becoming outside of all of the many names I had been given and given myself. I began to love differently. See differently. Seek differently. I began to surrender to the work never being done, but finding joy in that there was room for it all.
I cleared my schedule and took time off from everything else to continue this devotion to the work.
And then we all had to confront stillness. To collectively honor, to listen, to survive.
Some days I am on top of mountains. Some days I am weary. Some days I smile and laugh in ways I didnt know I could. Sometimes I grieve all of the loss, looking for pillars or anchors to hold on to. Some days I see so much promise in my future despite the chaos around me because I woke up a Black woman with this spirit in my heart. If I move, I am not running. If I move, it is by choice. I feel good knowing that I surrendered and found answers in my stillness.
When I see these two Harper's BAZAAR covers, I see the duality of me in these moments. I feel a lot of freedom in not having to chose to exist as one.
This past May, I jotted down a little jingle to sing when the going gets rough:
"Doing the work sure ain't pretty, it's like tearing down and rebuilding whole damn cities"
I never sing it, but knowing it exists is enough.
Break a vase, and the love that reassembles the fragments is stronger than that love which took its symmetry for granted when it was whole.
...
This gathering of broken pieces is the care and pain of the Antilles, and if the pieces are disparate, ill-fitting, they contain more pain than their original sculpture, those icons and sacred vessels taken for granted in their ancestral places.
Derek Walcott
There is a lot of allure in the art of mystery. In the seductive power of the unknown. The whisper instead of the yell.
The shadow instead of the figure. The veil never quite lifting. But I am ready to be seen. My silhouette is not enough.
My body is not just a vessel, it is truth. It is living, breathing, alive and well. What will you do with her?
I've been hanging my clothes on clotheslines, wondering if they will tell me their secrets. If I can air out their demons. If the water from the ends of hemlines can give breath to the grass it arrives on. Making a ritual of hand washing my silks in cold water. I watched a movie about this very thing. How you shouldn't leave your sheets out overnight because spirits might jump into 'em and now u sleeping with a ghost who doesn't even belong to you.
I was raised by a beauty salon.
My mother loved me a million different ways. One of the ways my mother loved me was by surrounding me with many a tribe who could care for me; my mom's deliberate choice to make "the shop" my after school care.
All of the women had their own stories to tell. Women from every background, name, and face in Houston, Texas came to transform within the safety of themselves. Boyfriends and husbands waited in their cars or in the front reception, and women ran the show. They talked shit, cackled, shrieked, cried, or read and contemplated quietlythrilled to escape their lives as mothers, sisters, teachers, and healers. Regulars would greet me with a big hug and ask me how school was, to get them a glass of wine from the back, or ask me to show them the latest dances. I took dance classes weekly, but it was in that shot that performance really began. The theater of the shop and I. It was there that my storytelling became more vivid, elaborate, and exaggerated! It was there that my gestures became language. I watched and studied my favorite womenthe way they walked, dressed, moved their nails when they turned pages. They paid attention to me, celebrated me, and always made me feel safe. My dances soon turned into monologues, and soundtracks soon followed. It was there that performance thrived and became alive. It was there. The shop became my theater. I was raised by a beauty salon.
The hardest lessons to learn are the longest to learn
Are the ones that chew you up
Spit you out
Make you crawl
Eat you alive
Grit your teeth
Wrench your guts
And then make you repeat seven times for good luck and riddance.
Showed up to the Jill and Badu battle, red wine in hand
Friends on Zoom
Thinking 'bout the balm that is waking up in this Black woman body and clicking this Black woman's tongue on the roof of this Black woman's mouth
Wouldn't want it any other way.
Showed up to the Babyface joint
Thinking 'bout my mama's warm love and my mama's past pain, and all the ways I took both on, singing each one of those songs on car radios like they were my own stories to tell.
Showed up to the Brandy and Monica battle
Thinking 'bout what it means to sacrifice and devote so much of your life to your gifts and how much appreciation we pay forward to being on the receiving end.
A letter to an unnamed friend:
I have so much more I want to say, but I'll start with: I want to thank u for energetically holding me accountable. You have said nothing, but I feel it following me like a shadow.
This past few months it's been really important to me to go inward and recognize the ways I haven't always shown up as my best or most graceful self. To not point this finger of mine so much at others, but take those same fingers to grip a mirror up to myself.
Reflecting on the ways I could have shown more grace and compassion. Been more thoughtful.
I am thankful to have a friend like you.
Friends who say something and friends who say nothing, but even the thought of their presence makes me feel everything.
Something about your kindness, patience, and love for me makes me want to be a more kind, loving, and patient woman. Thank you. For the growth. For the stretching. For the remaining of the same. For the parts of me that were dormant that have now been awakened. For the joy. For the rain. For giving me seeds I want to water.
We planted the soil
the root and the pain
We lied in the bass of the earth
Went to the center
the core
like a pulp
Veena like a veinI'll never forget locking hands and fingers and nails and the lines in our palms trying to touch all the feelings like show and tell
feel and say
Everything and nothing at all
So many house sounds
Voices speaking through ice machines and faucets and air conditioners
Couches on curbs waiting for hugs
Saying pick me up, don't nobody want me no more.
i cry for our pain
for our protection
for every forgotten moment we feel robbed of in life
for the abuse we endure
for our sickness and loss of health
for the way the trauma kills us when our oppressors and our own men don't
for our healing journeys
for the way we rise for one another when we can't do the lifting on our own
Today
Today, I affirm, will be a beautiful day
I will look for the good in all things
I will look for the love in all corners of time
I will listen to myself and be okay with the discomfort, but never let fear lead me
I will be a loving and patient mom
I will replace feelings of doubt with feelings of love
I will breathe
I've been thinking a lot about the importance of honoring, uplifting, and preserving Black collections.
Like a collection of every Telfar Bag ever made, stored and left untouched.
In 30 years, what will they say about 2020? About us?
What will me granddaughters feel about them?
What does it mean to be a designer right now?
In a world that's barely making it, where the spirit of survival is all around us.
When the ritual of dressing up can literally shift how we see ourselves in the moment, and express beauty which in return makes us project more beauty into the world.
When we are living on survival, why would we reach for that beauty?
When we live in such an uncertain world, how do we reach for that beauty?
Original post:
Solange Knowles Reflects on the Year that Changed Everything - Solange Knowles Fall Digital Cover - HarpersBAZAAR.com
- Luxury homes on the market in Cabarrus County - Independent Tribune - December 28th, 2023 [December 28th, 2023]
- Luxury homes on the market in Buffalo - Buffalo News - December 28th, 2023 [December 28th, 2023]
- Luxury homes on the market in Mooresville - Mooresville Tribune - December 28th, 2023 [December 28th, 2023]
- Give Your Home a Makeover to Suit Your Life - May 21st, 2023 [April 4th, 2023]
- This garden designer's home focuses on the outdoor space | Country | - Homes & Gardens - August 20th, 2022 [August 20th, 2022]
- Armani, others flee wildfire on Sicilian island retreat - New York Post - August 20th, 2022 [August 20th, 2022]
- LENNAR INTRODUCES FIVE NEW HOME COLLECTIONS AT MORGANS MEADOWS IN SAN ANTONIO, OFFERING MASTERPLANNED AMENITIES AT COMPETITIVE PRICE - PR Newswire - August 20th, 2022 [August 20th, 2022]
- How do you know when a client isn't the right fit? - Business of Home - August 20th, 2022 [August 20th, 2022]
- HGTV Home by Sherwin-Williams' Color of the Year 2023 announced and it's all about nostalgia - Homes & Gardens - August 20th, 2022 [August 20th, 2022]
- How this firm is helping clients cut carbon emissions - Business of Home - August 20th, 2022 [August 20th, 2022]
- Im an interior designer 5 things that make your home look cheap & why IKEA furniture should NEVER mat... - The US Sun - August 20th, 2022 [August 20th, 2022]
- How often should you wash your sheets? And the health risks of getting it wrong - Homes & Gardens - August 20th, 2022 [August 20th, 2022]
- Telfar Brings His Vision to Sportswear, and Other News - Surface Magazine - August 20th, 2022 [August 20th, 2022]
- Scotland's Home Of The Year: Banjo Beale Replaces Kate Spiers - House Beautiful - July 1st, 2022 [July 1st, 2022]
- 6 tricks with color designer Summer Thornton uses in her interiors - Homes & Gardens - July 1st, 2022 [July 1st, 2022]
- You may be surprised by the cost of the new proposed fire district - Villages-News - July 1st, 2022 [July 1st, 2022]
- Iconic fashion brand wants to style your home - Furniture Today - July 1st, 2022 [July 1st, 2022]
- Lighting maker Mitzi partners with designer to offer new Tastemaker options - Home Accents Today - July 1st, 2022 [July 1st, 2022]
- Diane Hakansson Obituary - The MetroWest Daily News - MetroWest Daily News - July 1st, 2022 [July 1st, 2022]
- Nursing Homes and Long-Term Care Facilities Market Research Report 2022 Market Size, Share, Value, and Competitive Landscape forecast year Designer... - July 1st, 2022 [July 1st, 2022]
- A journey by bike to Strawberry Mansion and the homes of Jazz legends Sun Ra and John Coltrane highlights the inequity of historic preservation in... - July 1st, 2022 [July 1st, 2022]
- Iris van Herpen on Couture, the Metaverse and Making Dresses From Algae - WWD - July 1st, 2022 [July 1st, 2022]
- Designer Shaleesa Mize makes her childhood dream a reality in a home that's ready to grow with her family - Inlander - June 12th, 2022 [June 12th, 2022]
- Live Large In This Lux Lakeside Resort at Heath Golf and Yacht Club - CandysDirt.com - Candy's-Dirt - June 12th, 2022 [June 12th, 2022]
- My House: A Designing Couple Treat Their Eichler to a Refresh With Funky, Vintage Style - Dwell - June 12th, 2022 [June 12th, 2022]
- Take a look at this updated 1930s Charles Dilbeck home in Highland Park - The Dallas Morning News - June 12th, 2022 [June 12th, 2022]
- Arizona's most expensive home is on the market for $28 million - KGUN 9 Tucson News - June 12th, 2022 [June 12th, 2022]
- Is Elvis Presley's Old Apartment Haunted or Just Creepy? - House Beautiful - June 12th, 2022 [June 12th, 2022]
- Double bed ideas for small rooms 10 clever ways with compact spaces - Homes & Gardens - June 12th, 2022 [June 12th, 2022]
- How 'The Handmaid's Tale' mansion was saved from the wrecking ball - Nine - June 12th, 2022 [June 12th, 2022]
- Capture and PhotoRepairPro Join Forces to Give Back to Military and Veteran Families - Business Wire - June 12th, 2022 [June 12th, 2022]
- Im an interior designer, this free and easy triangle tip will transform your home & should ALWAYS be fol... - The US Sun - June 12th, 2022 [June 12th, 2022]
- Pinterest makes an acquisition, Nate Berkus gets into the sleep game and more - Business of Home - June 12th, 2022 [June 12th, 2022]
- DESIGNING FUNCTIONALITY WITH A DASH OF STYLE - The News International - January 25th, 2022 [January 25th, 2022]
- Pandemic-era design solution from the past: The Murphy bed - Marshall News Messenger - January 25th, 2022 [January 25th, 2022]
- Newly constructed houses you can buy in Opelika - Opelika Auburn News - January 25th, 2022 [January 25th, 2022]
- Build to rents glitzy goldrush raises fears for social housing - The Guardian - January 25th, 2022 [January 25th, 2022]
- Designer experts reveal easiest DIY home renovations that will give your home a facelift & yes, paint g... - The US Sun - January 25th, 2022 [January 25th, 2022]
- Couple offer reward to find 90k of designer goods snatched from dressing room - Mirror.co.uk - January 25th, 2022 [January 25th, 2022]
- These homes are off-grid and climate resilient. Theyre also built out of trash. - The Philadelphia Inquirer - January 25th, 2022 [January 25th, 2022]
- This designer-approved curtain tip will create the illusion of space in a small room - Homes & Gardens - January 25th, 2022 [January 25th, 2022]
- Designer Tricia Guild reveals how she will be updating her interiors for 2022 - Homes & Gardens - January 25th, 2022 [January 25th, 2022]
- Luxury, lies and life with a 'gold spoon' - The Korea JoongAng Daily - January 25th, 2022 [January 25th, 2022]
- How Design Cafe is looking to disrupt the $20B home solutions space with design and tech - YourStory - January 25th, 2022 [January 25th, 2022]
- 9 beautiful design tips worth borrowing from this converted Georgian church - Homes & Gardens - January 25th, 2022 [January 25th, 2022]
- From the Garden: Pots and perches to show off your houseplants in style - pressherald.com - January 25th, 2022 [January 25th, 2022]
- U.K. Home Deals Rose 7% in January Year Over Year - Mansion Global - February 16th, 2021 [February 16th, 2021]
- The Magnolia Network has a new star, Tom Dixon is a hologram, and more - Business of Home - February 16th, 2021 [February 16th, 2021]
- WATCH: Limerick interior designer joins judging panel on RT's Home of the Year - Limerick Leader - February 16th, 2021 [February 16th, 2021]
- This New Gloucester Home Draws Inspiration from the Colors of the Ocean - Boston magazine - February 16th, 2021 [February 16th, 2021]
- The best luxury hotels opening in 2021 | International | Travel - Luxury London - February 16th, 2021 [February 16th, 2021]
- This Band-Aid inspired antibody home test kit design is the simple and safe home testing solution we need! - Yanko Design - February 14th, 2021 [February 14th, 2021]
- Life Meets Art book offers glimpse inside homes of leading creatives - Dezeen - February 14th, 2021 [February 14th, 2021]
- Resetting for the new year with soothing decor - KeysNews.com - February 14th, 2021 [February 14th, 2021]
- Brand-New Oceanfront Mansion on Australias Southern Coast Is a Modern-Day Masterpiece - Mansion Global - February 14th, 2021 [February 14th, 2021]
- Gang of Thieves Used Instagram to Stake Out Celebrity Homes - Euro Weekly News - February 14th, 2021 [February 14th, 2021]
- Pet-friendly IKEA-worthy furniture designs that perfectly balance the needs of your pet, your home and you! - Yanko Design - February 14th, 2021 [February 14th, 2021]
- Westgate action group urges residents to join up and 'Save Our Fields' - The Isle of Thanet News - February 14th, 2021 [February 14th, 2021]
- The super-rich are designing homes inspired by Bridgerton, The Undoing and The Real Housewives - Telegraph.co.uk - February 9th, 2021 [February 9th, 2021]
- West To Address 'Happy Home' Design In IMC Webinar - HomeWorld Business - February 9th, 2021 [February 9th, 2021]
- Sandy Liang's new Lower East Side flagship reflects eclectic and locally-inspired fashions - The Architect's Newspaper - February 9th, 2021 [February 9th, 2021]
- Sustainable furniture designs that replace the mass produced plastic designs and make our homes greener! - Yanko Design - February 6th, 2021 [February 6th, 2021]
- Powering the Luxury Residence - bocaratonobserver.com - The Boca Raton Observer - February 6th, 2021 [February 6th, 2021]
- Will High Point become a year-round town? - Business of Home - February 6th, 2021 [February 6th, 2021]
- Los Angeles Is Home To The Largest (And Most Expensive) Residence In The World - Celebrity Net Worth - February 6th, 2021 [February 6th, 2021]
- 'Forget trends do what makes you feel good': how to style a happy home - The Guardian - February 6th, 2021 [February 6th, 2021]
- 'Love It or List It' Star Hilary Farr Is Getting Her Own Solo Show on HGTV - HouseBeautiful.com - February 6th, 2021 [February 6th, 2021]
- The Houses and Interiors of Apple TV's "Dickinson": The Homestead and the Evergreens - HouseBeautiful.com - February 6th, 2021 [February 6th, 2021]
- Japan-inspired kitchen appliances that are the epitome of minimalism, form and functionality! - Yanko Design - February 6th, 2021 [February 6th, 2021]
- Fergus Garber Architects is hiring a Architectural Designer or Job Captain, 0-6 years of experience in Palo Alto, CA, US - Archinect - December 18th, 2020 [December 18th, 2020]
- Here Are The Interior Design Trends Going Away In 2021 - Forbes - December 18th, 2020 [December 18th, 2020]
- Vision Real Estate and Design Partners with Side, Changing the Way Homes are Bought and Sold in Orange County - PR Web - December 18th, 2020 [December 18th, 2020]
- The T List: Six Things We Recommend This Week - The New York Times - December 18th, 2020 [December 18th, 2020]
- Making Children's Books in the Covid-19 Era - Publishers Weekly - December 18th, 2020 [December 18th, 2020]
- Fashion Group International Honors Rising Star Award Winners - WWD - December 18th, 2020 [December 18th, 2020]
- The Women of Woods Bagot: Architects Building New Futures - ArchDaily - December 18th, 2020 [December 18th, 2020]
- Gary Friedman wants to design the world - Business of Home - December 18th, 2020 [December 18th, 2020]
- Know best indoor plants to buy, how to keep them healthy - austin360 - December 18th, 2020 [December 18th, 2020]
- Bobby Berk Knows Working From Home Is Hard. Hes Got Some Advice - NowThis - December 10th, 2020 [December 10th, 2020]
- Breaking News - Maureen McCormick of "The Brady Bunch" and Interior Designer Dan Vickery to Star in New Home Renovation Series "Frozen... - December 10th, 2020 [December 10th, 2020]