Before Black Outdoors:
GRIEF SWEAT SKIN
Imagine if a junkyard was a garden clay sanctuary that held space for more consideration of the untold stories of black meditation. A place of pause for black folks to reflect for a moment on the grief, joy and wonder of what it means to be. A collapse the wasted materials into a context of symbolic worship, that sits in silent concert with the emblems of black birth, life and death. Before Black Outdoors: Grief, Sweat, Skin, invites the viewer to listen in as I talk to my self through objects.The black diasporic body memories dips in and out of a fragmented visual tapestry, of my existence, and prenatal context.
This work is pointing to black innocence, life and labor as an abstracted somatic archive for relooking. The objects and materials are unhinged from there natal context, which allows them to sit in a place of remembrance of a poiesis that is in contrast to the historical reality of black life. This work is not asking with an expectation for answers, but rather allowing the questions to take up space in the context of what is, This work is giving space to grieve, sweat, and be in my skin.