mixed media, newsprint, textiles, conductive thread, arduino, sound (2018)
Rituals of Black Fugitivity is a series of interactive tactile sound installations. In its first iteration this piece is a meditation on various historic and diasporic forms of protection that we as black people have used to signify and encode sanctuary within hostile spaces. Borrowing from the semiotics of the Freedom Quilts as a departure point this work layers these forms of protection culminating in my own vocalizing of my quotidian rituals of protection amidst an increasingly violent world that propagates bare life. At the center of the piece are three ornamental paper fans. When pressed they play three different audio tracks engaging viewers to recall their own practices and knowledges of ritual protection. Audio tracks can be found here (recommended to listen with headphones).
Conjured from the work of Octavia Butler, Alexis Pauline Gumbs, Jacqueline Tobin, and Deepa Phillips.