Apurahat ja residenssipaikat

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SPLINTERS (working title)

Hakemuksen tiivistelmä

With a 1-year grant awarded by the Kone Foundation, I will explore wood craft traditional techniques from a queer black "drag" perspective. The idea originates from the Ballroom culture, a scene of trans, gay, non-binary -mostly of color- using homemade outfits and performances informed by stereotypes, gender roles, and social classes. When I began making costumes designs for my drag artist friends, I realised the implications of textile work in relation to creating a space for them to perform as themselves, or reimagine themselves. I felt there was an important story to tell about their lives, many of whom often struggle with overlapping invisibilities, racism and violence. This has led me to wonder: how could I explore with other material the transformative power of art in spaces where no one looks like me, like us? The objective of SPLINTERS is to adapt woodcarving, which mostly comes from cis-white masculine culture, to challenge established heteronormative societal ideals of capitalism. The title comes from early 14c meaning of a "flexible slip of wood". One goal is to make pendants and brooches adornments, which queer bodies under stress will be the wearers and carriers of. The theme of the “wounds”of the wood will be treated as a metaphor to explore the un-ending nature of living with trauma in a society that disavows one’s authentic self if not conventional. The process of carving, coopering, refining will keep the wound open, against the expectation of “closure” or “resolution”. Another goal will be to create sculptures carrying "resistance" of the wood further by occupying spaces that are usually overlooked - corners, borders, and edges - in order to defy what is conventionally expected.I will host a series of interchangeable exhibitions, holding performances with worn jewellery in art spaces and exhibiting sculptures in ball rooms. My hope is to claim queerness in a system that wasn’t made with me in mind, and propose an alternative path.

SPLINTERS (working title) was a proposal I made to adapt woodcarving techniques, which mostly come from cis-white heteronormative masculine culture, from a queer black "drag" perspective. I was interested in the fact that wood originally has an adapting, changeability and memory quality that I wanted to revive. My goal was to challenge established heteronormative societal ideals of capitalism through it.
As I started to manipulate wood in a carpentry workshop to make pendants and brooches adornments, I used several other ingredients for ornamental purposes, and in particular cowrie shells. As I dived into my research, I connected to what the cowrie shells still stand for: the transatlantic slave trade.
Many people don’t know the true history of Europe—and that’s not by accident. There’s this fake narrative that rich countries have what they have because they are business savvy or worked harder. If countries like France or Belgium had to reckon with their colonial past, others haven't. During my experiments, I also did research on Saartjie Baartman the 'Hottentot Venus', an indigenous poor woman from Khoikhoi tribe of South Africa who was brought to Europe in 1810 and exhibited in Europe for paying audiences. She was called savage and was made to parade and to wear on stage as exotic "African" costumes and accessories, prominently cowrie shells.
I realised I needed to approach my initial project with a larger resonance. I started to conceive a series of ceramic works made out of crushed cowrie shells, together with queered wood in their core and textile work. The works will be later activated in performances speaking to the black diasporic histories, their wounds and resistance. To me, this alliance of materials and forms can become a place of reflection and memory of the millions of Africans who were enslaved. It is expected to be installed and performed in 2025-26.

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