LoveHoldLetGo

The blog of LoveHoldLetGo, a NYC-based independent film and theater production collective committed to telling magical-realist stories of eco-decolonization — www.loveholdletgo.com —

[jessxsnow]

Happy International #MigrantsDay ! Repost @culturestrike . I’m happy to finally release this painting made for Until We All Are Free. Thank you @thesoniag and @favianna1 for the project and your fearless queer women of color organizing through #culturestrike ✨✨✨Remembering and acknowledging the stories, the dignity & rights of all migrants across the world. •Image: We commissioned #Queer #artist : @jessxchen to create an #art piece for our #UntilWeAreAllFree Project this past September. [Description: “As Black & Brown migrants & #refugees soar and sail on their ships across the border, their bodies transform into hummingbirds. The friction of their solidarity forms a monumental hummingbird- #migrant justice movement- a living community that breathes, soars, and imagines together. Our heart is beating three hundred times a minute” - Jess X Chen ] For more information on the project visit UntilWeAreAllFree.com #art4 #migration #migrantrights #racialjustice #blackmigrantlivesmatter #humanrights #woc #children #borders #art

[jessxsnow]

“As temperatures rise and honey bee colonies collapseー the Earth slows down its spinning, and we experience a sunset that lasts a hundred days. A nine year old Navajo orphan with a green thumb hears the Earth speak for the first time. As she bonds with Mother Earth and earns her trust and traumas, she is given an immense task to preserve and fight for the land, the people, and the planet in a time of pollution and colonial destruction. A film spanning three generations of Navajo women, honoring the resilient power of imagination.” ✨ FUNDING TRAILER COMING SOON Starring Holly Begay Directed by Jess X. Chen Thank you @migraspora, @sj_murray @jetsonorama Holly’s family and the countless people on the Rez and who are making this short film possible. ✨🌱 Eco-feminism & Indigenous feminisms can save the Earth. (at Pinon, Arizona)

[jessxsnow]

Introducing 9-year-old Holly: I’ve casted her as the lead in a dream narrative short film project taking place on the Navajo Nation. Her presence is so profound and resilient it makes me never forget the trembling beauty of all life. I’m so excited to spend the next few months working with this brave and poised girl and the resilient community she represents. The last week on the rez with her family , and teaching poetry to youth has been one of the most beautiful of my life and I’m betting grateful to the generosity of the Navajo community, the activists, the youth, the elders and especially Holly’s family who has embraced me, and taught me so much about the Earth, about the sacredness human and animal life and all we must do to protect it. My life’s work has only just begun and this film is the first seed. Thank you to the Diné people for everything you have taught me, your openess to work for justice together in the name of art. In beauty it is finished. ✨🌻 (at Pinon, Arizona)

[loveholdletgo]

excerpt from silence and the earth.

[iambeyon-deactivated20201025]

intertwined-director’s cut

goache, graphite, and pastel on vellum and unbleached wood pulp paper. 

winter 2015

in this version, the animation is repurposed to fit part of a song that i wrote. there are also some additional sounds and credits.

thankyou to eleni cay for writing the poem which this animation was originally commissioned for, and also for providing funding.

thankyou to coyotes for being beautiful and i love you

the original version of this animation with the poem is currently doing a film festival circuit and won’t be released until that is over with. until then i hope that you like my personal cut. <3

for silence

and for the snow

for love hold let go.

[loveholdletgo]

this is the only known recording of silence & the earth. if you filmed us in secret when we were on tour last year (2 years ago?), please please send your recordings to us! after performing this play over 50 times across the continent, this video is the closest we have come to seeing it ourselves!! can you believe that? this recording is of our second to last performance, and took place in what was then creighton manor and what is now condos on february 3rd 2014.

beyon was very nervous about performing that night and almost had to cancel the show altogether. but jess gave them a nudge and we ended up doing an okay job. 

(the video cuts out before the end, oops) please send any video’s you took of us to [email protected]

<3

[loveholdletgo]

some new additions to the loveholdletgo store!

“4.5"x11" hand made print of a person being let go by a pair of hands and falling. each print is unique and created with a stencil and the artist's own fingerprints and is a single frame from this animation. Printed on cotton rag stonehenge paper with terracotta ink.” for fallers and for soft riverbeds Signed and editioned by the artist, beyon. Limited edition of 10

[jessxsnow]

These last few days have restored a new fire in my heart. I went back to the India point bridge and watched another swan soar over the Seekonk River. I realized that all around me, are friends who will go to the ends of the Earth with me to make a movie because my dreams are part of a collective dream that reflects a world we all want to live in together. Our liberation is bound to eachother. Another friend told me: “girl you have to make the movie. I’ll do whatever I can to help you gather the logistics and funds. Just worry about the story.” And so there are moments like this that forever change a young woman of color filmmakers’ life. Unlike the still image, the making of a film brings together communities you never thought possible. Each step forward is a testament to the unfaltering longevity of new and old friendships and their unshakeable belief in an untold story. We will hold on to the vision of SILENCE AND THE EARTH foolishly until the very end, against the enormous adversity brought by a 94% (white) male dominated industry. I want to love deeper than the brevity of desire can harm. Because history echoes: there is nothing more powerful (or vulnerable) than a story whose time has come. 👐👐🏽👐🏾👐🏿 (at India Point Park)

[iambeyon-deactivated20201025]

recycled starlight  <—(high resolution version here)

winter 2013

by beyon

drawn in creighton manor at the end of the year and the beginning of winter.

for silence and the earth

[loveholdletgo]

the end of our shadow puppet play. “silence and the earth” 

currently we are working towards creating a feature length film inspired by this play, the day we begin is always getting closer and were very excited for that.

animation by beyon.

[iambeyon-deactivated20201025]

its me!

 and some prints that you can have if you want them! 

• fear country (10″x41″ Giclée Print) Edition of 5

• eroding lands (5″x7″ Giclée Print) Edition of 25

• you’re the house you were born in (5″7″ Giclée Print) Edition of 25

• last (9″x12″ Giclée Print) Edition of 10

all prints come editioned, signed, and in a biodegradable plastic sleeve. 

if you live in halifax, all of these prints and more will be available at the ephemerus tape release show on April 4th! (send me a private message for details about that if you’d like to know details about that)

<3

[loveholdletgo]

new items available in the shop! old items (most of the patches) tragically lost during an interstate busing mishap!

have a look at our etsy to see what other new items there are!

[iambeyon-deactivated20201025]

large 11″x15″ screenprints of “your the house you were born in” are now available at the loveholdletgo etsy!

[loveholdletgo]

We've added new screenprints by beyon to the etsy shop! 

[iambeyon-deactivated20201025]

OUR DEMO IS NOW ONLINE AND THE TAPES ARE DUBBED! if you want to order a tape you can contact us at [email protected] or through our bandcamp. also, free downloads. <3

ephemeris: diary, calendar, record, also an almanac, also a table showing the daily motions of a heavenly body; an astrological almanac containing such tables: the record of something that is ephemeral. 

"we recommend listening to this with headphones" - Björk

released on march 7th 2015 recorded in september of 2014

words, sing, guitar - beyon sing, drum - dee lap steel, sing - aiden

recorded and mixed by dylan at radstorm in Halifax.

[loveholdletgo]

loveholdletgo is now selling “ephemerus - 2014 demo” on our etsy! 

ephemerus is the 4 piece fear country band from Halifax, NS that beyon sings and writes for as well as having designed the cover art.

you can listen to it for free here

cassette tapes can be purchased either through bandcamp or at our etsy

[iambeyon-deactivated20201025]

"last"

drawn in halifax during the ice storm

Gouache on unbleached wood pulp paper.

by: beyon

winter 2015

for the very last ones

for pinetree

[loveholdletgo]

the last human

[iambeyon-deactivated20201025]

"changing"

composed out of several frames of an animation i drew years ago

pencil and watercolour

by: beyon

fall 2013

for being born, and then being born again. forever.

[iambeyon-deactivated20201025]

"your the house you were born in"

drawn in halifax on my new (old) desk, under my new loftbed

ballpoint pen & graphite

by: beyon

winter 2015

for the time spent holding one another,

and for the reasons we cant stay like that

[loveholdletgo]

We just screen printed a whole new run of back patches, and little patches available in the LoveHoldLetGo etsy store. Made from recycled fabric and screenprinted in our living room.

The top two back patches, Funeral for the Honey Bee, and Gardening as an Act of Resistance were done by Jess X Chen.

The bottom small patches of the two people walking beneath the moon, was drawn by Beyon. 

[jessxsnow]

These patches are now restocked at the LoveHoldLetGo Store. !

[iambeyon-deactivated20201025]

fear country

part 3 (alberta skies) - drawn in Alberta. 

part 2 (grey ocean clouds) - drawn in Halifax

part 1 (forestfire) - drawn in Brooklyn

ballpoint pen

by: beyon

fall 2014

for lonely crowded places

for crowded loved places

and for lonely loved space