Life in the Bottom (Wakpa Triennial 23’)
Tell me about Constellation and your piece. Do you feel like what you produced initially is what it is going to be?
Yes, with Constellation and currently with my projection mapping work, it has a through line. I am really interested in bringing emotions of memory, Black joy, and reflection with abstraction. I’ve been refining this sort of play on images and play on things that are recognizable, but then also adding in different elements to it. I think it is going to be the same thing that I initially ideated on. There is the piece that I’m still refining a bit, for final showing. The vibe I am going for is a bedtime story with Toni Morrison.
Cont’
I read Sula recently, and I love the framing that she offers for the bottom, which is this town where these Black folks live that happens to be the top of the valley. For Black folks, often there’s this reference of heaven being where you get total joy and freedom and in this physical world, there may be suffering, but Heaven is going to be better in some capacity. For my work with this projection, I’m aiming for a liminal space between what will be the bottom, or the communities that we occupy and this definitive or omniscient place that is better. I think about using visuals, but describe that liminal space, and try to bring up those emotions or pose those questions too. My through line and my intention has stayed the same. Visually, it is an alignment with the look I have been developing over the past few years. I am excited about that.