Rest is probably what I wish you most for 2026.
Not so long before the Christmas break - that time when everyone seems to have accepted that being on the verge of physical and psychological burnout is simply the way to be - I bumped into my dear fellow Pervasive Media Studio resident and brilliant creative producer, Cèlia Dominguez Hernàndez. We were both so tired, and unsurprisingly, that’s what our conversation revolved around. Our eyes then drifted to an object I had already seen in the studio before but hadn’t had the bandwidth to think much about (burnout, you see): a pillow with the word “resist” stitched on it. I looked at Cèlia and hid the fourth and fifth letters with my hand, so that it spelled “rest”. That’s what we both needed: rest to recover from the endless (capitalist) machinery.
Unexpectedly, I had the luxury of time to recover during the holidays - but also to rest beyond that recovery. What a treat. That rest allowed me to simply sit, observe, and think. That almost never happens.
While I was doing just that, I noticed that leaves from a plant in my bedroom had fallen onto the carpet. I drew on one of them, and then on the others on the floor. This practice isn’t new, revolutionary, or groundbreaking. But it’s what I did instinctively - and enjoyed. I made something instead of thinking about what I could produce. There was no incentive other than the joy of making, and all of that was made possible by rest.
One thing led to another, and I began to think about how much this was an act of resistance - how it enabled creation. I finally understood what that cushion back at the studio meant. This idea was beautifully articulated by the thinker and author bell hooks, who wrote about the right to linger in “Women Artists: The Creative Process”, and I found myself lost in her words:
“This time is space for contemplation and reverie. It enhances out capacity to create. Work for women artists is never just the moment when we write, or do other art, like painting, photography, paste-up, or mixed media. In the fullest sense, it is also the time spent in contemplation and preparation. This solitary space is sometimes a place where dreams and visions enter and sometimes a place where nothing happens. Yet it is as necessary to active work as water is to growing things.”
Rest well, and happy 2026.