“Dancing in the Diaspora” is an exhibit that shares the experience of one Black artist who finds her ancestral connection to woodworking during a month-long residency in Paramaribo, Suriname. The work in this exhibition was created on my return to America, with a newly discovered sense of self and affinity to purpose. As an untrained, contemporary Black woodworker, the urge to manipulate wood is intrinsic and instinctual. Like the experience of bonding with the Dutch-speaking Surinamese and the Saramakan-speaking Maroons, despite our lack of shared language – my relationship with wood is ineffable; it calls to me, and I answer. It was only after living, eating, and sleeping among people who looked like me, laughed like me, whose skin and smiles shone like mine, that I was freed from the burden of being Black in America. I can wield freely my love for making and dance passionately in my studio knowing that I am living my purpose with ancestral support with hopes that everyone has a chance to dance in the diaspora.
To Muse the Labyrinth is an exploration of what it means for me to be a Black artist, lost between worlds of anger, resolve and conjecture.
During this residency, I will create a labyrinth – a safe space in which to be vulnerable, free from judgement, and washed in absolution. [Read More]
Exhibition of “to Muse the Labyrinth” at Platteforum in Denver, CO. Photo courtesy of Wes Magyar.