How Black Power Naps Challenges Fear of Colour, Hostile Architecture and Sonic Terror

Black Power Naps is a multidisciplinary project that reclaims rest as a radical act of resistance against systemic inequities. Initiated in 2015 as a workshop for Black culture workers, it has evolved into a public conversation, research initiative and design proposal aimed at addressing the Sleep Gap–a disparity rooted in the historical exploitation of enslaved peoples and perpetuated by contemporary systems. The project counters three key tools of oppression: chromophobia, the colonial fear of colour that erases Afro-diasporic aesthetics; hostile architecture, urban planning designed to exclude marginalized communities; and sonic terror, the use of noise pollution to destabilise underprivileged neighbourhoods. Through vibrant installations, soundscapes and architectural interventions, Black Power Naps creates spaces that celebrate Black joy and healing. By reframing rest as reparations and collective care, it challenges the structural forces that deny rest to the underprivileged, offering a vision deeply rooted in Black radical traditions. a painting, each stroke scaled our project into a larger mission of creating awareness around disparities in rest and sleep. After studying the Sleep Gap and the history of the sleep deprivation of enslaved peoples, we decided to shape the project to combat three prominent tools used in Western societies to interrupt the human circadian rhythms of underprivileged communities.