the wait of it
the wait of it, speaks about the nine years spent growing and collecting my hair, which culminated in this work, as well as the politicization of afro hair and the psychological weight that carries.
Accompanying this work is the poem Bleached by poet Laura Neal and an original score by Artist Johannes Barfield that includes the sound of fire and the sound of water. The audio was inspired by the 2020 Minneapolis uprising and the following Martin Luther King, Jr. quote: "We have fought hard and long for integration, as I believe we should have, and I know that we will win. But I've come to believe we're integrating into a burning house."
-Installation view at Oakwood Arts, Richmond, VA.
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the wait of it, 2020, a site-specific five-channel video installation.
Nine years of detangled afro hair formed into a loosely woven vessel, hand-harvested red clay from Winston-Salem, North Carolina, an audio poem by poet Laura Neal, and an original score by artist Johannes Barfield.
the wait of it, (detail)
the wait of it, (detail)
the wait of it II, 2020, a site-specific public art installation at the former Richmond Community Hospital located on the Virginia Union University Campus in Richmond, VA.
Nine years of detangled afro hair formed into a loosely woven vessel, hand-harvested red clay from Winston-Salem, North Carolina, and an umbrella tree.
Richmond Community Hospital was the first African American patient care facility in Virginia. Sarah Garland Jones, the first Black person and woman to pass the examination by the Virginia Board of Medicine, is credited with pioneering the Hospital.
the wait of it II, (detail)
the wait of it II, (detail)