Artwork & Installations
Black Woman, Unbothered
2022
The entirety of this installation was born out of a four-week residency at Roger's Art Loft in the summer of 2022.
My participation in this residency was contingent upon my ability to experience true rest -- unbothered and unapologetic -- for at least the first half of my stay in Las Vegas, Nevada.
Artworks created while in residency include multi-media "relics of rest" in the form of writings and artistic meditations on my own familial lineage and legacy. These relics serve as tangible evidence of the relationship between Black rest and Black joy without demands, expectations, or questions.
This work invites viewers to evaluate their self-expectations amidst the ever-increasing demands of our capitalist society. Additionally, the work serves as an opportunity to reflect on the fact that Black rest is only the bare minimum requirement in the fight for Black liberation.
(Photos by Ash DelGrego and Lance Smith, unless otherwise noted.)
16’’ embroidery hoop; sewing thread, faux leather, paper and glue
Scrap wallpaper from my grandmother’s bathroom, store-bought shampoo, store-bought conditioner, store-bought hair gel, hair brush, comb, and mirror
Scrap wallpaper from my grandmother’s bathroom, store-bought shampoo, store-bought conditioner, store-bought hair gel, hair brush, comb, and mirror
16’’ embroidery hoop; sewing thread, faux leather, paper and glue
This is not for you.
2021
This is not for you is an installation piece meant to mimic surrounding museum signage. It is a stand alone sign that reads "Black People Only Past This Point". This sign, intended to protect the sacred space created for One day, you will die, first appeared as part of A Time For Action, a six-night experimental inter-disciplinary micro-festival hosted by the Blaffer Art Museum (Houston, TX).
Following the two-hour installation, visitors were invited to participate in a group discussion. This discussion, facilitated by Angelique Geehan, Luana Da Silva, and Kat Chaffin, allowed space for Black visitors to voice their visceral reactions to non-Black people entering the gallery beyond the sign.
Non-Black visitors were asked to confront their inherent uncomfortability with being excluded from an area that was not intended for them. White visitors who surpassed the sign grappled with their socialized sense of entitlement and how their actions directly correlate to internalized and actualized white supremacy and colonialism.
(Photos by London Vallery.)
2 ft x 2 ft x 4 ft metal stanchion, ink on 8.5x11 inch white paper
2 ft x 2 ft x 4 ft metal stanchion, ink on 8.5x11 inch white paper
2 ft x 2 ft x 4 ft metal stanchion, ink on 8.5x11 inch white paper
One day, you will die
2021
One day you will die is an interactive installation inspired by my 2021 Manifesto. This installation first appeared on day three of A Time For Action, a six-night experimental inter-disciplinary micro-festival hosted by the Blaffer Art Museum (Houston, TX).
Each element in this installation is intended to allow Black visitors an opportunity to reflect on their personal legacy and give reverence to their sacred existence. Each Black visitor is invited to consider which parts of themselves they will leave behind by responding to six prompts displayed on the surrounding walls.
Flowers are an essential part of this installation. As Black visitors finish responding to the prompts, they are reminded that they do not have to earn their flowers in order to deserve them.
(Photos by London Vallery.)
Live daisies, plastic container, sharpie; 14x14x20 inches
Wooden chair, red yarn, potting soil, brown paper, black paint; Varying dimensions
Live daisies, plastic container, sharpie; 14x14x20 inches
How to build an altar for the living
2021
An homage to Black lineage, Black legacy, Black oral histories and Black mortality.
Audio (begins at 11 seconds): Voice of my 101 year old great-grandmother, Jessie Sampleton-Mayberry
Music: "I Believe" (feat. John P. Kee) by The New Life Community Choir
Click the Vimeo icon at the bottom right of the video to view an audio transcript.
Is my trauma aesthetically pleasing enough for you?
2021
Infographics and cartoon reenactments have become the default, palatable way to spread information (on social media) about the murder of Black lives at the hands of the law enforcement.
Why must conversations about Black bodies dying be palatable in order to gain attention? And who is this palatability for?
Purposefully created for free, on Canva.com
Posted to my public Instagram page on February 12, 2021.
I/We
2020
"Inspired by interviews with Syrian & Iraqi refugees during their first 90 days in Austin, the original i/we was a multimedia concert we made in 2017. We wanted to explore empathy and listening in an age of polarization. The concert had an amazing cast of international musicians and artists, and won Best New Composition at the Austin Critics Table.
For I/WE 2020, ARCOS, with choreographer Erica Gionfriddo, dancers Bonnie Cox, Ginnifer Joe, Kaitlyn Jones & Oddalys Salcido, along with filmmaker Eliot Gray Fisher, recontextualize the original stories and music through movement filmed in natural spaces around the State of Texas.
Kaitlyn B. Jones explored the second movement, 'I am not afraid'."
(Campbell, Angelica. “I/WE 2020.” Austin Classical Guitar, 2020, www.austinclassicalguitar.org/i-we2020/.)
shift(ing), soft(ing)
2020
A conversation about Latasha Harlins
2019
In collaboration with movement artist Becky Nam, this movement piece explores the complex and nuanced relationship between Asian Americans and Black-Americans with a primary focus on the 1991 murder of 15 year-old Latasha Harlins by 51 year-old Korean convenience store owner, Soon Ja Du.
A Conversation about Latasha Harlins premiered at the art studio of John Christensen as a part of the annual 2019 West Austin Studio Tour.
Dope Fit!
2019
Dope Fit! is conjugated from the accidental discovery of 95 Black bodies at a construction site in Sugarland, Texas. After excavation, these bodies were said to be the bodies of freed enslaved Black people, forced to work on sugar plantations after emancipation.
In collaboration with tap dance extraordinaire Michael J. Love and an ensemble of Black artists and thinkers, Dope Fit! utilizes dance, rhythm, music, text and voice to create our own metaphysical Black utopia. Through the mixing of rhythm tap, contemporary choreography, vernacular sounds and shapes, we seek to reclaim lost archives and visceralize freedom.
Dope Fit! premiered as part of the 2019 Cohen New Works Festival at the University of Texas at Austin. An extended version was presented at the Washington Carver Museum and Cultural Center in Austin, Texas in September 2019.
