Anjna Swaminathan

“Surrender To The Adventure”

When Johnny Gandelsman asked me to create a piece for This is America, I was torn. After creating several projects centering on oppression and attempting to foster hope while sharing the stories of marginalized people, I was ready to write about something joyful and pure: love. And more specifically, my experience of love with my beautiful fiancée Shannon. As much as I’d liked it to be pure and unadulterated, our inspiring, abundant, “restoring faith in humanity” love does not exist in a vacuum. It coexists with and against the anguish of being intersectional beings in America, in a country that values profit over humanity. Our Black, Brown, immigrant, neurodivergent, mentally ill, disabled, queer, trans, femme love cannot be pure, for its mere existence is a constant revolution against the circumstances in which it was planted.

“Surrender To The Adventure” is the inscription on Shannonís engagement ring. We set it as an intention each day to “Surrender To The Adventure” that is our love, the adventure that is this country, the adventure that is navigating the joys and pains of being in love in America. Ours is a dynamic existence. It is a constant dance, moving fluidly from heartache, to concern, to abundance, to fear, to scarcity, to radical self-love, to grief, to anger, to complacency, to hope and every minute and massive feeling in between. I invite you to dance with us as Johnny does, improvising and responding in this moment to the coexistence of our love and whatever America is right now. For some, this may feel like home, for others, this may feel uncomfortable. Whatever comes up for you, Surrender to the Adventure. —Anjna Swaminathan

”Surrender To The Adventure” was generously commissioned by Washington Performing Arts (Washington, DC) (Vail, CO)