Art
City
Catalog view is the alternative 2D representation of our 3D virtual art space. This page is friendly to assistive technologies and does not include decorative elements used in the 3D gallery.
RE-ANIMATED ANCESTORS.
Spaces in this world:
Artworks in this space:
LIBERTY RE-ANIMATED.
A visual response to the University of Hull and the Wilberforce Institute's research on the 'Sea Islands & Jamaica' contraband records. The work seeks to visualise/re-animate faceless profiles in the records through a process of responsive, improvisational portraiture and digital animation.
NINNY RE-ANIMATED.
A visual response to the University of Hull and the Wilberforce Institute's research on the 'Sea Islands & Jamaica' contraband records. The work seeks to visualise/re-animate faceless profiles in the records through a process of responsive, improvisational portraiture and digital animation.
NANCY RE-ANIMATED.
A visual response to the University of Hull and the Wilberforce Institute's research on the 'Sea Islands & Jamaica' contraband records. The work seeks to visualise/re-animate faceless profiles in the records through a process of responsive, improvisational portraiture and digital animation.
PART I. A visual response to the University of Hull and the Wilberforce Institute's research on the 'Sea Islands & Jamaica' contraband records. The work seeks to re-animate faceless profiles in the records through a process of responsive, improvisational portraiture. The portraits are annotated with Adinkra alphabet and calligraphy to reconnect subjects with THEIR West African origins. THESE ARTWORKS HOMAGE THE INVISIBLE ACTIONS OF ENSLAVED PEOPLES WHO CARVED A LEGACY OF ENDURANCE IN THE FACE OF OVERWHELMING OPRESSION.
PART 1.b) A distributable booklet or zine providing added context to the improvised portraits described in part one. The booklet will feature images and interpretations of aforementioned portraits, where possible elaborating on information from contraband records pertaining to incidents of resistance; contemporary photography from Hanover Parish Jamaica*; high definition photography of visual artwork evoking underrepresented historic figures instrumental to the abolition of the slave trade such as Queen Nanny and Samuel Sharpe. Additionally the booklet/zine will feature artwork produced in portraiture and Adinkra calligraphy workshops with local, engaged community groups.
PART III. A series of 2x fired clay sculptures to be installed in alcoves at the front of the museum. The sculptures will be a physical response to the broken Benin Plaque in the Wilberforce House collection which was split in two by bombardment damage in WW2. the plaque serves as a powerful metaphor for British and West African diasporic relations since the colonial era. The rupture in the looted plaque speaks to the deep wounds carved in the historic trails of power and conflict, which extend through time and space to exacerbate legacies of division and inequity in the present. The new sculptures will operate as sentinels representing recovery and solidarity in the face of erasure.
PART ii. A digital exhibition extending beyond the physical museum grounds will invite people in Hull and beyond to participate and learn from the exhibition of installations. The digital component will take shape as a virtual gallery, accessible via qr codes, which will be printed and installed in available spaces in and around the Wilberforce Museum and University of Hull grounds. Artworks in the gallery will be digitally animated versions of portraits on display at the museum, providing a sense of life and movement to enslaved peoples listed in contraband records. In this way, artwork will attempt to animate absence in archives, reiterating the humanity of enslaved peoples who will be artistically transformed from contraband records entries, into digital portraits evoking emotion, sentience and eternal presence.
Digital sketch for physical portraits at Wilberforce House.
Digital Sketch for Animated Portrait at Wilberforce House.
Digital Sketch for sculptures at Wilberforce House.
CAIRO RE-ANIMATED.
A visual response to the University of Hull and the Wilberforce Institute's research on the 'Sea Islands & Jamaica' contraband records. The work seeks to visualise/re-animate faceless profiles in the records through a process of responsive, improvisational portraiture digital animation.
NANNY-GRIGNON RE-ANIMATED.
A visual response to the University of Hull and the Wilberforce Institute's research on the 'Sea Islands & Jamaica' contraband records. The work seeks to visualise/re-animate faceless profiles in the records through a process of responsive, improvisational portraiture and digital animation.
QR CODE ACCESS FOR VIRTUAL GALLERY
BENIN SCULPTURE AT WILBERFORCE HOUSE
ADINKRA KEY.
A key for translating English language into Adrinkra text.'(Adinkra Alphabet) is a phonetic Ghana writing system derived from Adinkra symbols for the languages of Akan, Ewe, Ga and Dagbani. The original Adinkra symbol is modified for ease of writing. Further modification is done from the standard Adinkra Alphabet to the simplified Adinkra Alphabet. Adinkra Alphabet was created in 2015 by Charles Korankye.'
PORTRAIT OF MERCURY.
A visual response to the University of Hull and the Wilberforce Institute's research on the 'Sea Islands & Jamaica' contraband records. The work seeks to visualise/re-animate faceless profiles in the records through a process of responsive, improvisational portraiture and re-translation; using Adinkra alphabet and calligraphy.
PORTRAIT OF PRUDENCE.
A visual response to the University of Hull and the Wilberforce Institute's research on the 'Sea Islands & Jamaica' contraband records. The work seeks to visualise/re-animate faceless profiles in the records through a process of responsive, improvisational portraiture and re-translation; using Adinkra alphabet and calligraphy.
PORTRAIT OF NANNY GRIGNON.
A visual response to the University of Hull and the Wilberforce Institute's research on the 'Sea Islands & Jamaica' contraband records. The work seeks to visualise/re-animate faceless profiles in the records through a process of responsive, improvisational portraiture and re-translation; using Adinkra alphabet and calligraphy.
SEA ISLANDS CONTRABAND RECORDS
PHOENIX RE-ANIMATED.
A visual response to the University of Hull and the Wilberforce Institute's research on the 'Sea Islands & Jamaica' contraband records. The work seeks to visualise/re-animate faceless profiles in the records through a process of responsive, improvisational portraiture digital animation.