'The Undercommons Sociality' 2022
‘Is there a way to be in the undercommons that isn’t intellectual? Is there a way of being intellectual that isn’t social?’ Fred Moten in The Undercommons: Fugitive Planning and Black Studies, Stefano Harney and Fred Moten, p110.
‘Devotional citation’ artwork featuring a citation from one of my most beloved texts which has been keeping me company since my undergraduate days.
This is my first piece incorporating paper and fabric. The cotton rag paper and silk were both hand dyed by me— the paper with dried coreopsis flowers and the fabric with fresh indigo leaves. The thread was hand dyed by my mother, Deborah Barker.
“Come, let us find them, our fellow fugitives, redouble their efforts & together dance under new suns glorious and unknown.” Emma Dabiri, What White People Can Do Next, P150.
‘Devotional citation’ gift piece for Emma Dabiri featuring the above citation and illustrations of a primula and a roselle plant.
'Fellow Fugitives' 2022
Indigo Triptych (2021)
Indigo Triptych (2021). Featuring citations from: Barker, Deborah (2021), ‘The Fibershed’, The Lisome, issue 2: Rewilding, pp. 22-27, Dean, Jenny (2010 [1999]), Wild Colour: The Complete Guide to Making and Using Natural Dyes, Penguin Random House USA and nash, jennifer c. (2019), black feminism reimagined: after intersectionality, Durham: Duke University Press.
Materials list:
-Carbon black ink (2021) made by London Pigment with charred wood collected in London, rain water, oak gall and gum Arabic.
-Cotton rag paper (2021) from Khadi Papers
-Dahlia dyed peace silk thread (2021) gifted and hand dyed by Deborah Barker with Arabian Night dahlias from Plaw Hatch Farm in West Sussex
-Japanese indigo plant [persicaria tinctoria] (2021), grown and gifted by Jenny Dean, seeds from Bailiwick Blue
'Black Feminist Sacred Sediments' (2021)
'Black Feminist Sacred Sediments'. Featuring a citation from: nash, jennifer c. (2011), ‘Practising Love: Black Feminism, Love-Politics, and Post-Intersectionality’, Meridians, Vol. 11, No. 2, pp. 1-24
Materials used:
-Dahlia dyed peace silk thread (2021) gifted and hand dyed by Deborah Barker with Arabian Night dahlias from Plaw Hatch Farm in West Sussex
-Japanese indigo leaves [persicaria tinctoria] (2021), grown and gifted by Indigo Garden London
-Japanese indigo paint (2021) made by Indigo Garden London with organic British-grown Japanese indigo, water, gum arabica, vegetable glycerine and thyme oil
Royal Gold paint (2020), C. Robertson and Co. London
Exhibited at the Poem Atlas 'TEXT-ILES' exhibition at Rhodes Art Park, September 2021. Exhibition catalogue available at: https://www.poematlas.com/text-isles-catalogue
'Devotional Citation' artworks in response to academic study days
From the TECHNE study day 'Feminismos antipatriarcales & Poetic Disobedience' on 10/06/21. The event was organised by Giulia Palladini, Helena Botto and Giulia Casalini in conversation with a transnationsl group of artists and researchers. This work was created in response to work shared by Dandara Suburbana and Bertha Diaz.
This study day was the launch event for the Techne Conflux series of events ‘Queer Feminist Currents’ which represents a two year collaboration amongst researchers at University of Roehampton and Royal Holloway, University of London. The first event, 'Queer Futurity', took place on 17/02/21 and was organised by Giulia Casalini, Sarah Gorman, Eleanor Roberts and Amy Tooth Murphy. The guest speaker was Jack Halberstam. Citations on this piece were phrases said during discussions that took place on the day.