Wounded Healer expands on previous explorations by creating a deeply personal and politically charged narrative through sound, ritual, and collaboration. The project is rooted in a belief that healing is a form of activism, especially for marginalized communities. With contributions from poets, spiritual leaders, and artists, the album is as much a space for reflection as it is for action. The collaboration with Darja Kazimira, which centers around death and healing, adds an emotional depth that surprises even Babak. Wounded Healer invites listeners to embrace magic as a means of reclaiming agency in a world where both personal and collective healing are urgent.

How does Wounded Healer expand on your previous work with ritual and sound?

The album is a more cohesive, focused, and multi-platform project than my previous works. It captured my various interests in a more articulated way, and I could finally express this convolution of art, politics, and magic that often escapes words. It also showcases my various musical inspirations and I hope my development in music composition.

How did the collaboration with Darja Kazimira shape the tone and direction of the video?

I have been exchanging with Darja for years and I have been truly fascinated with her rich body of work. I gave absolute freedom in creating the video and recording the vocals to the instrumental track. Her creativity surprised and inspired me. I haven't thought about death in the context of healing. So this collaboration taught me a lot and expanded my horizons.

The video is 100%and her artistic interpretation of the topics we approached in the collaborative tracks.

In what ways does magic, as a lived experience, manifest within the album?

I created each song with a very strong intention in my mind. They can be understood as little, symbolic stories or spells. Additionally, for each track, I invited a spiritual practitioner, poet, or artist to create a spell or a ritual inspired by the song. The outcome is this collective resource spanning diverse practices and languages. There are meditations, hexes, and even lines of code. It will be available as a riso-printed zine supporting the digital album.

Can you elaborate on the political dimensions of healing rituals in your work?

I have been a queer, anti-fascist, and feminist activist for nearly two decades now. At some point, I reached a wall. I just couldn't see the change I was longing for and I felt like I lacked the skills. I have so much anxiety it is difficult for me to go to a demonstration, let alone engage in direct action. Not to mention I wouldn't know where to start with fixing electricity at a squat or something. Then I thought about how else I could exercise my agency and this led me to magic: spells, rituals, and hexes. I wanted to feel like I could have a direct impact on reality while rooting myself in my context and my heritage. So I was researching not only Slavic magic but also folk dissent strategies then led me to create various spells and rituals that I hope uplift my community and help carve justice out for us. Nowadays I am particularly interested in healing and fostering moments of connection, rest, and refuge, especially in times of multi-crisis.

What emotional or intellectual space do you hope the listener/viewer enters through this project?

I want to create a moment of suspension where we can feel the connection between bodies breathing in the same rhythm. I want to offer people solace. I want to cultivate hope and the strong conviciont that I have that change is not only possible but is already happening. Everyone can answer for themselves who is their community and what kind of change they long for. I am focusing my energy on people who experience discrimination and pain on daily basis: queers, migrants, refugees, outcasts. I want to see climate, racial, gender justice that includes sovernity of land, soil and seeds and partnership with other species.