Sunday Afternoon
‘Sunday Afternoon’ is a compilation of personal video diaries from over three years. The installation mixes new and vintage technology. I am please to present this as a project of dedication, a love letter to the south, and an initiative to normalize black joy.
Artist Statement
I loved growing up as a little black girl in the south. It was lovely and dangerous and over much too quickly. I encourage the youth to look to previous generations as an inspiration and for our elders to treat the youth as a non-renewable resource. These juxtapositions fuel my fixation on the perplexing emotion of nostalgia.Within my work, I appraise blackness as a holistic experience; a gift and a challenge that demands preservation. Womanhood is a similarly complex blessing and I find power in femininity. I explore both parts of my identity in a simple, repetitive, self-portrait designed to evoke empathy without the dramatic heights we’ve become accustomed.Life is a series of events connecting us in the form of a web rather than a straight line. This project is an overview of the plain and pure realities surrounding us. Let this be a collection of reasons why life is worth living. Let this be a time capsule for ‘vintage’ and modern technology merging together. As well as a testimony to the time we dedicate to rest, play, care, creation, and exploration.
CARE (Part 1 ) : I’ve learned, we have to give ourselves equal care to what we give the world. Through my own habits I reflect the deeply caring relationship black women have with their hair. In addition, this compilation features examples of careful preparation, a love language all its own._________REST (Part 3) : Rest can look like more than just stillness. Sometimes it is just scrolling on social media and sometimes it is a day at a museum. I recognized this and instead focus on depicting the tasks and experiences in which I’ve felt my energy being charged or getting ready to be charged._________PLAY (Part 6) : Memories of active enjoyment, usually with others, feels more permanent in some ways. Muscle memory from childhood brings back uninhibited laughter and ease when we let ourselves move. No matter how old we are, allow yourself to play.__________EXIST (Part 7) : I hope the title is a simple directive in itself. Black people deserve to just be. Whether in affinity spaces like a park cypher or inclusive spaces designed by others, we exist and that’s just the beginning.Watch a Diary
