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Poetics of relation
In studio at
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Work in Progress

This work is a continuation of the research started in residence which interrogates generational trauma and the legacies of colonialism and slavery on not only those who suffered them but their descendants alive today.The research encompassed African histories, anthropologies, traditional religions and christianity on the continent. I combined this with discussions with Ugandan millennial and diaspora youth on the topics of, seeking to answer the questions of  “can the colonised, decolonise themselves?” and “is there any way back?”. The discussions unearthed a deep well of negative emotion, and in particular feelings of loss, disconnection and corruption amongst the participants. The work is an answer to the anger, and frustration many  feel towards these histories of oppression, but also towards current situations in the world directly tied to it. 

 

As a result my focus is on art as social practice. I envision my work as a healing practice, focusing on the process of creation and intent imbued, to create mediating objects which invite the audience into meditation using imagery of the natural world. It creates alternative means of connection, for when words fail. Informed by the difficulties I had communicating with my grandparents who didn’t speak English - I’m interested in how we can reconnect across such divides, linguistic or spiritual, to access the lineages we have been cut off from. 

Subject vs Object 

I have been thinking about the subject -object epistemological framework of western thought, the enslavement of Africans, their 'thingification' and 'commodification' which stripped them of personhood and subjectivity. I draw from the work of philosophers and cultural theorists such as Sophie Oluwole (video) and  James A. Noel's "Black Religion and the Imagination of Matter" which challenges traditional Western understandings of matter as inert and separate from the spiritual realm, instead of the interconnectedness of the material and immaterial worlds in Black religious thought.

From this ontological position, interesting questions are raised about the photographic archive, materiality/spirituality, subjectivity/objectivity and  connection. 

"If it hurts, has it healed? " 
Nahumi & Rebecca, my paternal grandparents, Yumbe circa 1980

Iconography 

Each Icon represents a specific cause for example "An Icon for those lost at sea"  is a reference to both the Atlantic slave trade and the current migrant crisis. Any proceeds from prints of this icon will go directly to migrant crisis, as a result the icon unites past and present, the earthly and the divine, the Christian and the Indigenous and thought with action. It is a work of reconciliation, bringing together imagined relations from the past into communion with those present.

An Icon for those lost at Sea 
An Icon for the Unfree

An Icon for the Unheard
An Icon for the Weary
An Icon for the far from home
And Icon for those at war
An Icon for the Dark...
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