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.