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In studio at
Iconography Work in progress
Building on the practice of marbling as meditation and exercise in letting go, this particular piece incorporates the marbled papers into traditional orthodox Iconography. Drawing on my research into generational trauma, religious syncretization between African Traditional Religions and Christianity and traditional African artefacts, I decided to make an installation work of icons which will create an alternative holy space. There will be 12 icons, set up in a circle, which viewers can enter to view the work one at a time.
In Orthodox Christianity, Icons are considered intermediaries between this world and the next, and they are made through a deeply meditative and prayerful process. I’ve used images of women from the colonial archives, all of them are either colonial subjects or former slaves, and come from a variety of places, and are Africans, Afro-Brazilians and African Americans, thus the work symbolises a reunification. Using this familiar aesthetic, the work is easily accessible by all who are familiar with colonial aesthetics of beauty and power and wealth. In this way the women are elevated to a dignified position and the colonial photography subverted. The use of gold is symbolic and increases the works material value. The work offers a critique of the global capitalist which was built on the backs of the women featured, as it has aesthic and material value according colonial standards but is not for sale.
The frames are part of the artwork, and will be carved with masks, patterns and symbols and lost African scripts.
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
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, which invites those who are angry and frustrated into meditation on the . It invites those present into communion with those past. It is a return to African art as spiritual practice and social justice.
Marbled Backgrounds
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