The Problem with Being Unique

The Taste of Memories

This is an in progress draft of a new video piece I've been working on. The audio is from an interview I conducted with my mom over the summer. The video features footage of a stream and wooded area near my home with superimposed photographs of family members mentioned during the narration. My intention is to make a two channel video installation to be projected simultaneously. Like the Water Secrets installation, this video visually merges nature and body, while also raising questions about the importance of food, family relationships, the home and its surrounding landscape to who we become.

Thoughts on Installation: Water Secrets 3

I'm considering different methods of installation for the Water Secrets video. The first was a performance where I project onto myself, merging body, inner dialogue and place. In this particular installation, I chose to use recorded narration, but I've also considered reciting the narrative live.

In preparation for my third mentor meeting...

Questions I am asking in general with my work are. . .


Does knowing more about the past give one better insight into the present or who they are?

Does the natural world (in our immediate surroundings) have an impact on who we are culturally and individually?

How does nature and what we consume from it influence us culturally and individually?

What is the importance of documenting the existence and personal stories of my family to me as an artist? Why?

Questions regarding specific works. . .

Water Secrets - How can we connect with the past and our ancestors through our interactions with the landscape? Are we connected with others through sensory cues and stories of particular places? What can our experience with nature tell us about ourselves? 

"A landscape should establish bonds between people. . . art also belongs with landscape studies as I interpret them for it is only when we begin to participate emotionally in a landscape that its uniqueness and beauty are revealed to us." - J. B. Jackson

Papier-mâché forms and transfers - How can the tactile qualities of objects and the narrative qualities of images be combined to document changes in a place over time? Can the work create an emotional connection between the viewer and work while also drawing connections between people and place, the enduring and ephemeral, experience and memory?

Hand photos and shells - The woman in my family show love and devotion to family through their work. Can my elders and ancestors be honored through my labor? Can my work connect me through time or space with them? Can the objects we touch and utilize tell as much about who we are as our stories?

Collard Leaves and Food memories audio - Can food and natural sustenance establish bonds in the same way  that a landscape can? Can what we consume connect us to place? Can it connect us to people? How can we be defined by what we consume? Where is the line between cultural and individual identities in regards to diet and traditions? What is the connection between memory, food, and place?

Inventory - What do our belongings say about the lives we live and our values? How do we determine the value of an object or a person? What can be learned from the way we organize and document our lives or our belongings?

Mentor Meeting Two

Ernesto Neto, The Island Bird, 2012

In preparation for the meeting I had to articulate a few questions about what is on my mind and what is guiding my practice.... 

How do the places we have lived become a part of us?

Does place become a part of our collective memory?

Is it possible to feel a connection to a place you’ve never been to?

What do our surroundings say about us and our private lives?

What role does our sense of touch play in regards to memory, place and identity?

Why is it important to me to know where I came from? Will it help me understand myself better?

What is my role in the line of women in my family?

Ernesto Neto, Humanoids Family, 2001

Ernesto Neto, Humanoids Family, 2001

Artists

Eva Hesse (particularly her lists, sketches and writings)
Ernesto Neto (objects meant to be hugged or spaces to be inhabited)
Lygia Clark (objects for healing)
elin o'Hara slavick (especially her cyanotypes)
Helio Oiticica (particularly his Parangoles performance)


Exhibitions
Explode Every Day: An Inquiry into the Phenomena of Wonder

Lygia Clark, Abyss Mask, 1968

Things to Consider
Be deliberate in setting parameters concerning new sources for library cards. This can be related to location of library, content of cards, etc.

Clarify and be able to defend why I've chosen catalog cards as a material for the leaves.

• The following qualities of these cards connect with my subject matter and interests:
• Cards are a method of documentation
• Way to organize and archive information
• The information displayed on the card inscribed the work with specific meaning
• They are made of paper which carries it own historical context and tactility
• This method of organization signifies outdated modes of relaying information

Clarify and be able to defend specific reasons why I've decided to use collard leaves.

Pay attention to the sculptural qualities of sound. Try combining various recordings.

Take a look at John Dewey's philosophy of knowledge.

Work feels more like a deep investigation of place and marking its changes rather than mourning them. Presentation of evidence without judgement feels significant.

How the work is made almost feels more important that the object itself. Explore how to make the process more a part of the finished work.

Be as specific as possible with narrative and intentions.

The truth as I understand it from the stories that have been passed down to me is more important to my work than their historical accuracy.

On how to proceed when you have a lot of raw material to make sense of....

• Don't be overwhelmed
• Follow all leads
• Don't over-edit
• Don't feel pressured to use everything right away, there may be enough material to work with over a long period of time
• Always take risks

elin o'Hara slavick, After Hiroshima: Two Leaves, 2008

elin o'Hara slavick, After Hiroshima: Hair Comb, 3 views, 2008

Personal Mapping

I've been working on reintegrating the relief forms into my practice. Earlier this semester, I expressed a desire to use these works as an opportunity to map specific places and memories. This project has also evolved to document changes in the landscape over time. There have been significant changes in the construction and content of these forms.

1. Instead of using several layers of papier-mâché strips over the cardboard, I added one layer of strips and sculpted papier-mâché clay on top. With this method, I'm able to increase the level of detail and sculpt a gradually sloping form.

2. Instead of painting and embellishing the forms, I have created collages using archival and original photographs to transfer onto the surface. Although a couple of the collages are finished, I am still working on building up and smoothing the surface of the forms. This work is still in progress.

The Image as an Object

Andy Warhol, Chain Link Fence, c. 1980

Gelatin Silver Prints, stitched

Several things about this work really resonated with me:

1. The physicality of the stitches; sewing the photos together merges image and object
2. The act of sewing and connections it could draw between me and my mother
3. The practice of quilting and connections it could draw between me and my grandmother
4. The potential for pattern-making and abstraction

From the moment I saw this work I wanted to experiment with sewing photographs. In August, I posted about the narrative qualities of detail shots. I think abstracting these detail photographs by cutting them apart, reassembling them and sewing them back together is an interesting way to expand this line of thinking.

I will look to several artists to inform this particular series of work:

1. El Anatsui
2. Gee's Bend Quilters
3. Faith Ringgold
4. Romare Bearden
5. Aaron Siskind

There are 3 short-term goals for this work:

1. Abstracting individual images
2. Combining individual images with archival images from the same location
3. Combining multiple images from the same location

I'm super excited to begin this series. I've been working on editing the photos to print this week. In the meantime, my new sewing machine just arrived so while I wait for the prints, I will experiment with sewing paper using whatever I find lying around the studio.

The Water Knows My Secrets: Update

Just finished a new draft of this project with new footage, narration, and improved timing.

The Object as an Image

Over the summer, I made some cyanotypes while visiting my grandmother. She owns kitchen utensils that were passed down to her by her own mother. A couple may have even belonged to her grandmother as well. These objects are beautiful in their own right.

Although they are still being used, they hold for me memories of my great-grandmother and her cooking. They also bring to mind issues of legacy and inheritance. Not only do these objects symbolize the values of hard work and devotion to family that was the legacy my great-grandmother passed on to my grandmother and the rest of her descendants, but they are also imbued with memories of her recipes, mealtimes and holidays spent with family, and a tangible symbol of her touch and labor.

My goal is to incorporate several of these images into my quilted collage work. I will also experiment with using them as part of a wall collage, that will draw connections between my hand photographs and hand shell sculptures.

Lists & Inventories

Ever since visiting Harris County over the summer, I've been haunted by the probate records of my slave owning 5th great grandfather. I find the inventory and subsequent sale records of his belongings fascinating.

Over the past weeks, I've been working on transcribing the inventory. It was not as easy as I had hoped. Old styles of penmanship, farm equipment jargon, and misspellings made the transcription slow and frustrating. Currently, I have a draft that I find satisfactory, with only two words that I have not been able to figure out.

According to my research on Georgia standards of agricultural wealth, Isaiah would have been considered in the elite class of farmers called planters. This means he was reasonably wealthy. At the time of his death in 1961, his entire estate was appraised at $35,340 and included about 900 acres of land and 23 slaves.

This inventory is extraordinary because it lists each slave by name and monetary value, along with farm animals, equipment, and household items as mundane as wash kettles and lard. One of the questions this document raised for me was what factors determine a slave's value? The obvious answer to that question was work potential, but I also found that reproductive potential and life expectancy were also significant factors.

When comparing this inventory to the slave schedules that accompanied the US census taken the year before, I learned several things. The first thing that I noticed was the number of children; over half of the slaves were under the age of 16. The second fact that the women of childbearing age and had at least one child were more valuable than those who do not have children. After crosschecking both documents with the 1870 census (which listed African American people on the regular schedules which included names and ages) I was able to match Charity Ann and several of her children (Henry, Julius, Hiram and possibly Virginia).

Another question this document raised is what would an inventory of my possessions look like when compared to Isaiah's? I have started working on taking a complete inventory of my workspace as a result of these ponderings. This inventory might grow into a larger project, where I attempt to record all of my possessions but I want to set a limit for the time being.

Although not a question, the fact that this is the first official document listing my 4th great grandmother, Charity Ann (and several of her children) by name it seems almost like a genesis of sorts. Something that laid the foundation for everything that came after. It provides personal context for my family and their eventual migration to Muscogee County and beyond as well as cultural context for issues of power and valuation. How much was a black life worth in 1861 and how does that contrast with now?

I'm working on an audio project in response to this list. By overlapping one channel with a list of slave names with another channel listing animals, objects and property, I seek to emphasize the contrasts between the two while also pointing out the fact that they appear on the same list.

The Water Knows My Secrets

"But our native country is less an expanse of territory than a substance; it's a rock or a soil or an aridity or a water or a light.

It's the place where our dreams materialize; it's through that place that our dreams take on their proper form. . . .

Dreaming beside the river, I gave my imagination to the water, the green, clear water, the water that makes the meadows green. I cant sit beside a brook without falling deep reverie, without seeing once again my happiness. . . .

The stream doesn't have to be ours; the water doesn't have to be ours. The anonymous water knows all my secrets. And the same memory issues from every spring."  

- Gaston Bachelard

The following video is from a project that I'm working on that combines a field recording from my grandmother's backyard, a bit of narration I wrote last semester, and some video footage I shot. I consider it a rough draft. I would like to make another recording of the narration, continue to play around with the sound mixing, video editing, and timing the footage better.

Mapping Out the Semester: October

Week One:
Complete papier-mâché landscape forms, sand and gesso
Complete editing photos for transfer and design collages for all 4 forms
Experiment with photo transfer techniques on board
Edit and print photos for quilting
Make corrections to Isaiah's inventory transcription
Re-record corrected inventory
Pour new set of collard molds
Shoot video of inventory drawings
Research for 4th paper

Week Two:
Begin photo transfer onto papier-mâché forms
Complete editing photos for transfer and design collages for all 4 forms
Cut photos and create collaged compositions for quilts
Continue work on inventory drawings
Conduct my own (workspace) inventory, record
Begin casting collards (if molds are dry)
Pour mold for Chattahoochee river
Hand casts based on mom and grandma's photos
Research and write paper

Week Three:
Complete photo transfer onto papier-mâché forms
Sew collaged compositions for quilts
Print inventory photos
Complete inventory drawings
Edit inventory recordings
Continue casting collards
Create Chattahoochee river papier-mâché forms
Continue hand casts based on mom and grandma's photos
Write and proof paper

Week Four:
Paint and texture papier-mâché forms
Continue collaged compositions for quilts
Work on installation for residency
Edit inventory recordings
Continue casting collards
Layer paper strips on Chattahoochee river papier-mâché forms
Continue hand casts based on mom and grandma's photos, research and try new material
Rewrite and complete paper