Adji Ngathe kebe
I understand the pitfalls of soft life. I understand there’s a certain level of wealth you need to achieve that peace of mind. The peace to do what fulfills you without excessive worry or stress. I even understand the pitfalls of materialism within soft-life. The skincare products, makeup, expensive style, decked out.
Yet it doesn’t stop me from desiring a soft life. I genuinely hate capitalism. It’s had such a disturbing effect on our world. I hate needing to work to survive. I think it’s absurd. A lot of things should be free as spending money on them doesn’t make sense. The work week is too long. Eight hours a day is a little too cute. Every weekend I’m amazed by how quickly two days go by. Sometimes it feels as if there’s really no separation between the weekend and the work days.
The theme for 2021 was resignation. Many quit their jobs as they were tired of the low pay, being overworked, and experiencing relentless work drama. During the pandemic, we realized as a collective how exhausted we’ve been. We had moments of rest between the tragedies and ambulance alarms. We were ushered out of the pandemic too soon due to capitalistic demands. Woken up before our hibernation was complete. Working again was difficult. I know many of us were not given any time to adjust.
I don’t necessarily hate labor. I might even enjoy doing work. I have a tendency to be a workaholic. To work is to live. We need to be doing something we love whether it’s painting, writing, singing, dancing. It’s why museums are filled with art. It’s what we had the time to create. The Brooklyn Museum has a great Egyptian wing, full of tablets, pottery, human creations. I love the Apkallu-figure tablets. They are taller than me. They stand before me, carved into. Someone took the time to carve a love letter of their culture into them. They had the time to devote to their art. Currently as artists we’re scrambling to find the time to create art while working full time. These tablets have survived for so many years and here I’m in a museum enjoying a piece of someone’s labor.
There’s a natural joy in doing what you love. There is worthy and unworthy labor. I’m still workin on my discernment for what is worthy or unworthy in terms of labor. I want to prioritize rest more than anything. Capitalism makes us feel guilty for rest. As if we are indulging ourselves instead of taking the minimum rest we need to not crash. I just want to slip my bones into silk and hibernate. Hibernators really won. I’m jealous of bears. I admit it. I too would like to get fat and nap for many months. I’m ready for a re-imagining of labor. I want my soft life and the labor involved with it. I just want the work to be worthy.
