I have not fully committed to one final project yet, and have been experimenting with multiple projects. Every time I had trouble proceeding with my main project (“Slime Language”), I started on an alternate project to keep myself creatively active and 3 works slowly evolved.
Slime Language
This idea began last year while I was trying to create a photo series on the black fugitive image and coded languages by using poses influenced by sign language.
However, I did not feel as if this was the final rendition of this idea; since, I felt like I captured the fugitive image aspect but not the coded language concept. For the Person in Time assignment for this class, I chose to revisit this series to work on balancing out the coded language part. This resulted in a QWERTY like system for your hands using latex gloves based on finger phalanx sections and letter frequency in English.
Again I was not content with the rendition of the concept. The movements were awkward and slow. I also tried to do machine learning with Google Teachable Machine but the movements were too small for it to detect changes. By using the Teachable Machine, I also realized that having your hands out in front of you for the messages you form to be read was an uncomfortable positioning in general. Most importantly, the execution felt as if the concept strayed from my body of work.
I then began looking into Christine Sun Kim and her work with sign language and music. By using the movements in signing, she created these drawings/diagrams and I knew this was more of the direction I wanted to go. My work as a whole deals with black culture and hip hop, and the recent rendition of “Slime Language” just did not have those parts of my work. I then began looking into sign language slang and sign language translators for concerts. After this round of research, I decided to turn Slime Language into a series of movements creating slang/idioms signs based off of lines in songs.
Medikaman Mayou La
“Medikaman Mayou La” is an alchemical booklet of translated Haitian home remedies and systems of medicine. All presented remedies are from my mom’s knowledge and the book covers various solutions for fevers to pink eye. The ingredients are all herbal and plant based.
The book combine universal and niche information. For instance, the illnesses are written in the universal medical term and the ingredients (if applicable) are referred to in their scientific name; the instructions are written in both Haitian Creole and English.
As of now I am still completing the written parts of the book, but I also want to add some diagrams or drawings.
After the book’s completion, I wanted to release it on Facebook or spread it through WhatsApp. News and the word of mouth spreading of medicine for ailments has been somewhat replaced by social platforms for non-American families and I wanted to see what feedback I would get from those communities.
Black PepperMint
Inspired by the short workshop we did with Nina Katchadourian, I wanted to continue working on a series using objects to physical impose images. Nina commented on the image I showed and mentioned how it felt like the hair became a shrub and I wanted to continue to push this concept.
I also looked into the material I was using and its symbolism and found out that mint is thought to heal, protect, and stimulate the conscious mind. Intrigued by this I began to focus on similar placements of the material within the images.
