In this conversation, Victoria Loorz speaks with
Alexandra "ahlay" Blakely, singer-songwriter, communal grief tender, and community organizer, and the creator of
WAILS: Songs for Grief, an album recorded with 200 voices entirely dedicated to grief, inspired by whales and Francis Weller's five gates of grief. Drawing from the lineages of movement song, Dagara grief ritual, and a lifelong relationship with whales, Alexandra has spent years developing her practice at the intersection of collective mourning, ancestral remembrance, and the emerging movement for the rights of nature.
Together, they explore what it means to grieve what we love as an act of reverence — and what it takes to carry that grief without being destroyed by it. Alexandra reflects on the land and water that raised her, the dreams that called her home after eleven years in Mexico, and a vision of multi-species liberation rooted in the belief that humans belong to this earth — and have a role within it urgently worth reclaiming.
Audio note: Alexandra's world was very alive during this recording. You will hear sounds of planes, cars, and dogs.
Content Warning: Discussion of suicidal ideation starting at
28:01 to 28:29. Please listen with kind care for yourself.