Historically, Black, Brown, and Indigenous peoples have not had the autonomy to choose when we can rest. We were forced via trafficking into labor, involuntary migrations, sexual and reproductive violence, and more. Industrialization, modernization, and capitalism picks at our bodies while we work for a tangible wage to survive. In Ritual Rest, an exhibition and performance ritual by Louisiana Creole and Afro-Indigenous artist, Maaliyah Symoné, visitors were encouraged to slow down, rest, and honor their bodies, with no shame. The performance was held in August at The Front. Located at the corner of St. Claude and Mazant St, The Front is an artist-led nonprofit exhibition space that promotes and uplifts contemporary art in New Orleans.
“The more we practice resting, the more we can heal ourselves and help each other heal,” Symoné said.
Symoné described the exhibition and performance as a social experiment and a point of self-reflection. “The point is not to come and meet me as an artist; the point is to come and meet yourself and have me as an example of what resting becomes. That’s why as soon as you walk in you are met with a mirror as a portal of seeing yourself.”
Upon walking into the quaint, blue-painted exhibition space, visitors were immersed in tranquility and self-care. Symoné and her team were intentional with the layout, comfortable furniture, color scheme, crystal singing bowls, and more. It was almost like a piece of heaven secured the space. In addition, Symoné’s muted short film, Ritual Rest, shared examples of what rest, centering, and rejuvenating oneself can look like.
Symoné is a mover and shaker throughout Louisiana, who doesn’t limit herself to one space or place, but she also loves to nap and rest. Her work centers nature, culture, cultivation, and decolonization. With Ritual Rest, she takes it a step further by including her audience as collaborators and transforming her artist talk into an intimate sound healing session.She informed us, through ritual, that there are seven types of rest. We practiced mental, physical, and spiritual rest, which included the Emotional Freedom Technique, affirmations, and sound healing.
“We use it to rewire the neuropathways in our brains,” Symoné said.
After a weekend visiting Houston, driving home to Lafayette, then to New Orleans, this 30-minute holistic healing session calmed and soothed me in ways that I needed.The tapping of our head, eye, nose, mouth, collarbone, and side of hand reminded me how important it is to take care of our physical temple. affirmations of self-love, calmness, and security flooded our thoughts and throughout space. Ritual Rest exuded art as revolutionary healing, revolting against the machinery of capitalism.
I walked away understanding and appreciating the healing power within communal rest.
“Rest is natural; it is not a reward for what you are doing, and it is not something that you have to put off,”Symoné expressed. “If you’re tired, lie down, please, especially now more than ever… I feel like the more we meet people to rest where they are instead of telling people you have to go to a retreat and pay for rest, you really don’t.”
Maaliyah Symoné, Ritual Rest performance took place at The Front in New Orleans on August 2, 2025.
