Materials: various fibers, twine, acrylic paint
How does Blackness’s relationship to death impact/increase our understanding of life and all that’s possible in it?
The bridge remains the bridge at the origin of it all. It has morphed somewhat. It is not bridges but, pathways and there are three. They are layered over and under each other intersecting at one point (for now). I have tried numerous iterations of this and the intersecting point and use of three fabrics resonates. The use of wind (windows open) resonates, light that is focused on this/these forms makes sense and the fluctuation of that also aligns.
This is inspired by infrastructure blocking and creating pathways- they have separated people in modernity and connect people to ancestry. And that is the next important point, connection to ancestry, to spiritual and how it may be embodied in materials. The fabrics hold knowledge before and after me- the twine secures them to a place, anchored by another place, and another place, and another place, and so on- to the earth.
My body- embodiment lies on top of these, at the intersection of these with (possibly) my footprint(s) seeping through each fabric and printed on the floor of the space as well. This feels like the outcome is space- taken out, and given room to breathe, the room it deserves. The outcome(s) of interest are connection, barriers, embodiment, and transcendence. So, this aligns with portals- maybe similar to the doors. Mostly, in bringing together elements I framed before in a new way- the environment is; the wind, the people, the space, the ocean is the form, the movement, self, and blackness is; me, the paint, the twine? This seems to be a natural evolution but also a specific exploration of material and space. (Notes from practice, 11/29/22)
Pertinent quotes & excerpts—
On material:
The actual design of the long flowing cotton gowns with long sleeves may vary slightly with the community, but most of them are sewn on machines from handed-down,traditional patterns cut from newspaper. Monroe churches' gowns have two narrow, torn strips of fabric tied around the gown-one around the waist and another below the knees, which function to keep the robe in place over the legs. Some believe that these ties represent the bonds of sin, and that after baptism, their removal signifies the freedom from sin and rebirth. The ritual of baptism in which the candidate is symbolically buried in Christ, where sins are washed away, and one is raised up to "walk in the newness of life."
"Take Me to the Water": African American River Baptism By Annie Staten and Susan Roach
On Epigenetics, embodiment, intergenerationality:
Embodiment refers to the many, many, many different ways that we literally incorporate the world outside us, in the expression of our biology. Embodiment gives you a frame to allow you to appreciate what the connections are, but recognizes a society as the key driver.. (Fatal invention, Dorothy Roberts, 2012)
The second meaning of subjugated knowledge, besides being buried, is forms of knowing that had been disqualified, considered nonsensical or nonscientific. It is “the knowledge of the psychiatrized, the patient, the nurse, the doctor, that is parallel to, marginal to, medical knowledge, the knowledge of the delinquent, what I would call, if you like, what people know.” By stating that it is the knowledge of what people know, Foucault is not referring to the taken for granted or dominant form of knowledge circulating but localized, particular, specific knowledge, what we might also call marginalized, experiential, or embodied knowledge. (Liat Ben Moshite, on Foucault)
Photo documentation by Inseok Choi
I was exhausted from the gaze on me. I was exhausted from the spectacle of my existence.
"Now I lay myself down to sleep. I pray the lord my soul to keep; if I should die before I wake, I pray the lord my soul to take." This is how I have started my prayers before sleeping almost my entire life. This is a family tradition, a passing down of faith- of discipline- of submission and repetition. So, I made figures and gestures on Blackness and rest. Black people and restlessness, an inability to rest when exhausted. While one gazes over us while we attempt to do so- ever present- at all times in need of rest- surveilled at rest.
Sleep and rest where you can find it, preferably where you are comfortable. Where housing is stable, quiet, there is time, leisure and these lie with this piece. I ponder and invite others to ponder your implication to my rest/attempts to rest and its impact on you, me, and us. In communal well being encompassing the past, present, and futures.
Materials: Linen canvas, acrylic paint, pine and oak wood, twine, metal nails.
Dimensions: 78x50x12in (198x127x30.5cm)
Sankofa (2022). Linen canvas, polyurethane polymers (N95 and KN95 masks), biodegradable twine, metal nails. 6x6ft (1.84x1.84m)
Composed of multicolored facial masks, Sankofa, sheds light on the implications our past decisions during the COVID-19 Pandemic have in the present and future. The imagery references is the Sankofa bird, a symbol originating from the Akan people of Ghana. The Sankofa meaning is to retrieve, to go back and get. It signifies the quest of investigation and the profound knowledge acquired when we ruminate on the past.
The inspiration for this work is to make something that would respond to the omnipresent pressure to return to normalcy that has come at this stage in the COVID-19 pandemic with specific emphasis on two points. One, With some understanding of data pertaining to fully vaccinated populations, reinfection possibility, and studies beginning to investigate long term effects of COVID-19 strains, I feel normalcy in a pre-2020 sense isn't possible and shouldn't be an aim for our world. Second, aspects of our country's response to COVID-19 ( e.g. remote work and learning, supplemental income, moratoriums on rent and other utilities, expanded basic supports) were beneficial for poor and disabled communities and now are disappearing. The world evoked heavy introspection, reflection and disappointment from me- and that's what brought about utilizing these masks and the symbology of the Sankofa.