New Sunday Rhythm: Treating Ourselves Like Art

Written By AMBER SESSOMS

Hey, Collective.

Welcome to this new rhythm.

These reflections used to arrive (mostly) on Saturdays. Now, they meet you on Sundays (albeit earlier next time), but not as a roundup of what’s happened, as a realignment for what’s next.

But before I say anything, I need to name this: This newsletter is happening at a time when the world feels heavy. Again. Still.

With war looming and fear humming beneath the surface, many of us will move through the week carrying more than our share. Yet, in moments like this, I return to what reminds me I’m still here: my breath.

Breath Prayer for a Heavy World

Inhale: The world is heavy
Exhale: but I am not alone.

Inhale: Fear presses in
Exhale: but truth rises stronger.

Inhale: I am allowed to feel
Exhale: and still choose to create.

Inhale: Even here, love finds me
Exhale: and I let it stay.

This week’s newsletter is different. What follows is my conversation with visual artist Bryan “King Prolifik” Hickman II, captured during our live fireside chat for his exhibit BECAUSE… I’M BLVCK at The Civic Club of Harrisburg.

The evening was more than an artist talk. King’s art met us in full form. We witnessed Evita Colon, “Poetic SoulQueen,” recite her powerful piece, “Recite a Black Girl’s Poem.” And we were held in sound by the soul-stirring live music of Kita P Music.

This was a curated experience of joy, resistance, and deep reclamation. Let’s begin…

Lesson One: Returning to the Truth of Who We Are

Reclaiming identity not as resistance alone, but as a celebration. A shedding of what was imposed, and a choosing of what is sacred.

Amber: There was a period of rest that you took. There was a period of grieving, as you're still navigating, to produce this beautiful work. So what did it take in terms of the journey?

King: With BECAUSE… I’M BLVCK, or with all of my work, there's a moment where I come into this realization that the body of work I put my energy towards becomes a physical manifestation of where I'm at in life... So when you indulge in all the pieces that are from my past or more recent, you’re actually witnessing my personal growth in a physical form.

So when I go through a period where the weight of life weighs down a little harshly, I’m blessed to be able to pivot. Make a distress call, and there’s a lot of learning in that. And so once I’ve learned those things, they become a part of my internal value system…So it’s my personal responsibility and duty to not only use what I’ve learned to witness when someone else is going through what I went through, but to also extend that branch to make community with that person so that they can be better off, just like I was.

[Cheers]

L-R: Jordan & Shelby Wormley of We & Company; King Prolifik; Dr. Le'Marqunita De'Sharay Lowe, Editor of LDL Magazine, and me

A: You talked a lot in your article with LDL Magazine about the unlearning that you've had to do…How has this work helped you to unlearn what you thought you had to be as a Black man, or what you learned about what Black womanhood was, and how do your pieces really show the unlearning in a journey to the truth of who we really are?

K: I titled it BECAUSE… I’M BLVCK for a specific reason. Usually, that phrase has always been made from a space of condemnation. So a lot of times we'll hear, “I didn't get that opportunity. It's probably 'cause I'm Black….I didn't do this, I couldn't get this probably 'cause I'm Black…They didn't offer me this type of kindness 'cause I'm Black.” So I wanted to add a positive connotation to that and make it more so a badge of honor in the same way that Marcus Garvey said that the term Black should be a badge of honor. I wanted to be able to celebrate us through that declaration.

I have access to joy because I'm Black. I have access to opportunities because I'm Black. So when it comes to my personal journey. When it came to unlearning a lot of things that didn't serve me, it was just common sense to a degree because in the joy that I was creating for myself back then, I saw that some of that joy came at the expense of others, and it didn't feel right…

I understand my place in the world as far as being a Black man. There are a lot of privileges that I do have. I'm able bodied…I'm a self-identifying and publicly perceived cishet Black man, and so there are areas in which I'm not marginalized as someone else may be. And so it's my responsibility to recognize that and make sure that the joy that I'm creating for myself doesn't come at the expense of those people, that I'm not perpetuating any falsehoods or stereotypes.

I'm basically freeing myself to exist and explore without having that guilt that maybe my Blackness may be up for disqualification. So there's more liberation in that. And it liberates others, too. Like when I started going on hikes, I thought that was just a White thing. I'm sorry [laugh]. It took me incorporating things like that and saying, “Well, I'm in charge of my identity at the end of the day,” and that made so much more of a clear path with just owning myself.

Lesson One Curiosities

  • Where have I mistaken survival for my true self, and what does freedom feel like?

  • What belief about my worth have I outgrown?

  • How has joy revealed my true self, beyond what I was told to be?

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Lesson Two: Rewriting the Story We Were Given

Disrupting inherited narratives through creativity, community, and joy. Reclaiming the right to imagine and embody the life we were always meant to live.

A: There's a story that's been imposed on us, and there's a part of us that has to unlearn, that recognizes a lie, and then the work that we have to do to create the actual life that we were designed to live.

I feel like there's a part of creativity because our ancestors were the greatest of freedom dreamers…you're actually helping us to recreate and reimagine ourselves as we should have been. So I just appreciate you for that because I have my two youngest here, and I think about my girls when they see these images and see themselves in there, in a world that doesn't give them that mirror that you're able to do that and there's liberation in that.

[Cheers]

What is the work you had to do to disrupt the narrative?

K: I think there was a privilege with me being an artist. For a lot of my childhood, although there were things that I subscribed to, I did that out of fear of being alienated. But with my artistry, it was like, that's one thing that the world can't touch.

And it was that feeling that made me want to put that in other spaces of my life. Like when it came to my extracurricular activities, when it came to how I was perceiving things, and just finding joy in. I think over time that joy just became a little bit more profound. And then I was also liberated by others who were exploring avenues that I was limiting myself away from exploring. So there was a communal sense in that.

Lesson Two Curiosities

  • What parts of me have I been afraid to explore because of how others might see me?

  • How has creativity helped me understand myself more deeply?

  • Who has shown me a version of freedom that opened something in me?

Lesson Three: Centering Ourselves Beyond the Gaze

Resisting tokenism, reclaiming narrative power, and choosing to tell stories that honor the fullness of who we are, even when the world asks for less.

A: My doctoral work was focused on how we look at everyday mundane things. So it would be creative spaces, social media spaces, and how we think it's mundane and that we're not learning from it, but we often center the White gaze in that….How do you navigate in this world, in this society, where we have this strong White gaze, and how do you come back to yourself so your work is not tokenized?

K: I think having Black people as my muse keeps our story alive, our communal story alive. I think it keeps us present in existence. It pushes back from erasure, and I…began doing that consistently. One, because my muse is what I'm influenced by, and because I spend so much time in my community, that's who’s gonna inspire me when I'm painting. And it allows me to paint us in a different light, where we are used to being celebrated. You look at movies and how Black people are typecast into certain roles in order to adhere to certain stereotypes, and that ends up perpetuating people's perspective of us who sit outside of the community. And so in that, there's even more of a responsibility to be loud in our greatness, our beauty, and just be us without feeling the guilt that comes from not being who others want us to be. So that's pretty much where I found empowerment.

A: There's something that you're inviting us into that light that has always shined so brightly that we continue to dim it in spaces that can't contain it. So I'm hoping that this is a container that we can take away and say, “I need to be able to continue to expand and grow upon that and challenge the notion of how I had to show up in these spaces so I can be more free.”

Which art piece was maybe the most challenging for you? And then which one was the most easeful for you?

K: Process wise, I would say the one downstairs with all the hands. Keisha could attest already as an artist, hands are extremely difficult to paint, and so painting multiple hands was a big challenge. But outside of that, mentally, I would say the pieces behind us. This was my journey into Afrofuturism, and in all of my pieces, I celebrate Blackness in a different light.

Photo credit: We & Company

And so I have us celebrated as deities. I have us celebrated just strictly as beautiful muses. I have us celebrated in a more serious light to send a message. I have a lot going on, and so Afrofuturism was different in that I was actually more of an author of the story than ever before, because with the other pieces…I kind of reference stories that have already been told…But with this, I'm digging out purely from my mind and just going full-fledged.

Lesson Three Curiosities

  • What parts of my story have I edited to make others comfortable?

  • Who do I create for, and what values guide those choices?

  • How do I tell the difference between alignment and self-betrayal?

Lesson Four: Honoring Our Fullness as a Living Work of Art

Choosing to be both the canvas and the curator of connection. Honoring ourselves with the same reverence we give to what we create.

A: So talk about you being a muse and, and tying that in with your work

K: It made sense for me to start treating myself like art because so much passion goes on the canvas, and I have so many fellow creatives whose paintings look amazing, and then you see them in their jeans and just covered in paint, and they look tired. They look exhausted.

And that is me, like 10 times out of 10, directly after I finish something. So, treating myself like art gives me a chance to celebrate the process that I just went through, to say I want to treat myself just as seriously as I treat what my energy's going to.

[Cheers]

A: And y'all felt that …I think that's a beautiful invitation. I'm sitting with that one. That is beautiful.

I did a lot of work thinking about people and cultural pedagogy, just people out in everyday life, just being educators. And I see you as an educator. You're not just an artist. Art is political. Art is a great medium to learn and engage. So I'm wondering, do you see yourself as an educator imparting wisdom and knowledge to us through your work?

K: One of my big motivators and recent pieces that I've done is to make sure that there is a profoundness to it. Not just in the visual aspect, but in the story that's embedded in it. Instructor isn't something that I would like to appoint myself to because I want to curate a space where someone learns from me strictly from their own thirst for knowledge.

So when I create an art piece, I'm putting so much into the visual element that I want it to attract people in so they can just pan over to me and say, “What does this mean?” Because they understand that it's a visual piece that has given them some type of appreciation, but they can't fully appreciate the whole entirety of the piece until they get the story that goes with it. You see the symbolism, you might not know what it means, and so that automatically creates an environment for you. You and me to exist where I can pass knowledge on to you, and it can be retained. Whereas, it might be different from a space where I've just been appointed as your teacher, and I don't know… if you're even in a space to retain the information that I have for you… I'm all for curating a space of safety and a space for generosity to exist between both parties so that they feel like I'm not speaking so matter of factly.

It's just that this information happens to exist. It doesn't exist for you until you want it to exist for you.

A: I wonder, when you have pieces, when you aren't able to be with the consumer and have a conversation, is there a risk that they might just see it as “black art?”

K: Part of creating a body of work that has Black muses and committing to that, it came with the understanding that I'm not gonna be invited to a lot of spaces because of what my art looks like, because of what I look like. And so, there are times where I'm asked to water down my work to make it more palatable for people, specifically for people who sit outside of the culture.

So, in that, there's that personal empowerment where I'm like, “A lesser version of me does not have a price tag.” Because if I can't really show up in my fullness, then there's no point in me showing up at all…

So when people reach out to me expecting that, I understand that they have a version of me that they've curated in their mind that they would like to exist, that is palpable to them. I know my art can be visually appealing and that can be enough for people, and so I'm good with that as well.

That person will get the full story and pass it to whoever indulges in the story. It's the same type of excitement we get after we've read a book. As soon as you've read a book, that knowledge doesn't just sit with you; you go to your friend, you're like, “Uh, this is what I just read.” Or even with a series that you just binge, you want to share that excitement of experiencing something that other people probably haven't. And so my art represents that. It's a door. It's a pretty door, but you could walk through or you can just admire and walk past it.

Lesson Four Curiosities

  • How can I honor myself the way I honor what I create?

  • How do I know when I’m in spaces where I’m celebrated, not just consumed?

  • What does it mean to show up fully, even when others aren’t ready?

Lesson Five: We Are Worth the Celebration Just As We Are

Saying no to self-betrayal. Saying yes to rest, truth, and joy. This is a benediction for the ones who are done shrinking and ready to build what we’ve always deserved.

A: There are so many of us in this room who have betrayed ourselves to think that we could fit in these spaces that were never designed for us. So I love that the futurism and all the things that you're creating are saying, “Let's build something together in community, different and more holistic that's rooted in Black love, because that's always where we have existed.” That's our foundation.

Thank you for being that invitation and container for us and giving us a space to breathe when things are so heavy. I hope you are taking a moment to just breathe and be, and to love on yourselves and to love on Bryan as he has given us this gift today.

But as we close, I want you to have the final word. This is your benediction, Brother, so leave us with the “Amen.” Everything that we've witnessed tonight, everything that we see here, what is it that you're hoping that each and every person here who's a healer, who's a poet, who are parents, who are elders, who are young people…can leave with today and take forward to our community to make it better and whole and liberated?

K: Okay. The benediction. Um, close the doors.

[Laughter]

K: Ultimately, I would say…just feel comfortable in divesting from the things that your body tells you do not belong to you. There were a lot of things I had to learn, unlearn as a self-identifying cisgender, heterosexual, Black male. There's a lot of expectations that were projected onto me as I grew. I had to perpetuate misogyny. I had to perpetuate the idea that my only fulfillment in life was to be a certain amount of things or possess a certain amount of attributes.

Be a hyper capitalist. You don't think you have access to rest until you're at the tail end of your life. I said no to all those things, and I had enough people around me to celebrate me still after I'd done that. So, keeping the community around you, keeping a tribe around you…

I have multiple circles of friends that I dedicate a lot of my energy to because they celebrate me. And the energy is cyclical, and it's not transactional. So much of society conditions us to view other humans as commodities, and we are not that. We have access to joy and generosity, and those things can be freely exchanged without the expectation that someone's going to give you something back. It can just freely be exchanged, just for the simple fact that you saw somebody needed it. You are abundance, and your existence is valuable simply because you exist.

[Cheers]

K: You all have an innate existence because you are here. Not because of what you can provide to someone else, not because of what your career path is, not because of what your aspirations are—those are all beautiful things and they belong to you, but they do not determine whether or not you are entitled to abundance, love, respect, all the things.

So I implore everyone to go where you're celebrated. If you are being celebrated, stay there. Create more celebrations amongst that group of people. If you see someone who is in need of the abundance that you have, give some to them. Not because of what they have, but because they need it and implore them to do the same for the next person.

So that's all I have, but I, I thank, I thank all of you for just being in this space with each other and with me being able to celebrate something that I've kept under wraps for so long. This is the first time I really get to celebrate myself with other people.

[Standing Ovation]

Lesson Five Curiosities

  • How can I celebrate myself, without needing to earn it?

  • Who honors me for who I am, not just what I do?

  • What world am I building through my presence and joy?

The Invitation

This isn’t just a newsletter; it’s an invitation to practice. To pause. To realign.

This week, let Bryan’s life and work be your teacher.
Let his truth be a template.

“A lesser version of me does not have a price tag.” — King Prolifik

So here’s your invitation for the week ahead:

  1. Choose one small way to treat yourself like art. Honor yourself as the canvas and the creator.

  2. Pour into your community without exhaustion.

  3. Create without waiting for permission.

  4. Share your reflections in the Substack Chat or tag me (@natural_inclination) and King Prolifik (@kingprolifik). What part of King’s journey echoed something in your own journey?

Don’t forget to listen (or re-listen) to Episode 23 where Emma reflects on Maya’s Sweet 16, summer adventures, and Juneteenth. Then send it to someone who helps you feel safe enough to be seen.

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And if you're a leader ready to build a culture rooted in restoration, courageous truth-telling, and liberatory leadership, I’d love to work with you.

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Sixteen Years of Sweet Becoming