Toward the end of Dr. Sybil Cooksey’s Interdisciplinary Seminar “Black/Human” course, we were offered the choice of a written or creative project based on expansive prompts. The final offering asked us, What is this collective flesh’s relationship to consent, pleasure, and resistance? As soon as I read the prompt about flesh and hapticity, I knew there would be no way for me to only write an essay. Most of my ideas felt too visceral for arguments, transition words, conclusions, you know, essay stuff. I’ve been a photographer for years and it’s a medium that’s really important to me. Film felt perfect for this project. It’s delicate and unpredictable. As much as I can plan and strategize, wish and hope, the photos are always at the mercy of others (well, until I learn to develop my own). I wanted to direct a project with black femmes to visualize my engagements with Hortsense Spillers’ “Mama’s Baby, Papa’s Maybe” (1987) and my understanding of flesh. My muses suggested I create a mood board, so I did, envisioning tenderness as a path and destination (shocker for someone who referenced about tenderness every time I spoke in class, I know, but that lens has been one of the greatest gift of “Black/Human”). I wanted to think about touch that’s invited and desired. Brown and glossy. I came in with ideas, but the session was largely co/co-created (thank you friends!). We talked about movements, positions, and more. But a lot of it was thinking in the moment and snapping what felt right, new, and comfortably stretchy with each other. Some of the photos are blurry and not what I had imagined, but they fit the theme of this project, relinquishing and making do. I hope you see it. Thank you for opening <3