performance in Development

Amulets, mirrors and natural matter for armor.

While recording a performance by young members of a Hunter’s Guild in Bamako, Mali in 2001

I was intrigued with the craft and detail of their protective armor comprised of mud-cloth, leather

amulets-and reflective mirrors. These brought to mind images of broken mirrors placed

in the yards I’d pass in Southern cities and towns. The reflection of the mirrors are said to repel evil, bad energy or spirits-much like bottle trees.

Over time, I began to notice that amulets were strung together and worn around the waist of young children in West Africa, as a measure of protection.

In 2010, I became curious about the collection of blue bottles displayed on the tips of tree branches in yards in Charleston, SC and made a short video about the people who had them-learning of the connection between the bottle trees, the Spiritual Realm and memorials.

technology

In mining stories, I have become curious about the connection between past and present; between memory and memorial. My skills are rooted in the archive and the analog. I am treading lightly in the digital realm.

Challenged with ways to present these concepts, I find myself creating-outside of the frame, returning to my own impulse to sew. I began sewing-making dolls, their clothes and puppets from remnants of cast away socks, and other materials- as a child and later was taught to use a sewing machine in a required “Home Economics” class when I was 13. Later, I continued to sew well enough and thought of myself as a seamstress. This talent, I discovered-was complimentary to the tactile editing of 16mm celluloid film when I was in graduate school. When I couldn’t get to the lab to edit my films, I would buy fabric and make myself something to wear. When my sewing machine didn’t work, I would sew by hand. looping the thread as I had been taught in home economics…as seen in the image to the right.

In my experimentation with making my amulets, I have included my own hair. African believes about Hair

holding energy and power is something shared through oral history. When my mother combed my hair, she would take the hair from the comb and burn it. This is a belief and a practice meant to protect the person from

harm by another.; believed that someone would cast a spell against the person using their hair.

Storied ephemeral technology

I made and wore this hat for my performance of my great Aunt Lizzy-at the Lynden Sculpture Garden in the summer of 2018. Conjured of stories about my great Aunt by my mother. She spoke of seeing this character that my aunt created to entertain the children (her nieces and nephews) wearing men’s clothing and an old beat up hat. She mentioned that the hat had moss that covered the character’s face. I added my hair and natural elements that I could find, dried bean casings from the garden and dried fern. Wearing Pomp’s Hat seemed to empower and protect me. It became my Juju or force field. My Amulet.

I am working on a new performance titled Seeking. It will involve collaborations between myself and sculptor/fabricator-Glenn Williams-who will make a mask for a Rite of Passage ceremony that I will perform-inspired by a story my mother shared of her girlhood in rural South Carolina-and of Rite of Passage ceremonies that I witnessed in villages in Sierra Leone in January 2020.

The mask will be fabricated of a female masked figure known as The Sowei (prounounced Soowee). Her role is to teach young girls to become humble, feminine and intelligent. She dances with them during the village ceremony-after which they retreat to the forest for a year-returning to the village as young maidens and soon after wives. In my mother’s story, she was instructed and guided by a “church leader” following a ritual of early morning retreats to the “woods” before sunrise to sit quietly, alone in meditation. This went on until she could report that she heard the voice of spirit or GOD. This practice was to make her humble. She was also instructed to ‘record’ her dreams in a diary during this Rite of Passage. At the end of this prescribed ritual (a month or longer, depending) she would no longer be seen as a girl-but a young woman- in the eyes of her family and community.