This process is still quite amazing. The more I learn, especially about how the Golden Age of Pirates was woven so tightly with the Atlantic slave trade, the more I can't stop looking. Sea shanties, African songs, dances, music all interchanged with each other because of this intersection.
For this site in the Studio Center in Baltimore, MD - it was interesting to adjust to the space - much larger for sure, but such a wonderful challenge to embrace and experiment with, especially in video. My first visual arts show of my graduate school career, I was very eager to learn everything the experience had to teach me. As I continue with this and other installations, I am so excited to see what the social movement of this research provides me - as well as the creative and expressive ways these historical moments manifested themselves.
For this site in the Studio Center in Baltimore, MD - it was interesting to adjust to the space - much larger for sure, but such a wonderful challenge to embrace and experiment with, especially in video. My first visual arts show of my graduate school career, I was very eager to learn everything the experience had to teach me. As I continue with this and other installations, I am so excited to see what the social movement of this research provides me - as well as the creative and expressive ways these historical moments manifested themselves.
This go around was also interesting because I looked at different creative movements that may have come about or been exchanged between cultures on the seas. I loved looking at the martial art form Capoiera and how it was used to communicate between slaves against the slave masters. I was fascinated by the sea chanties and the sailors jigs as means of staying sharp and nimble with ones voice, feet and fingers in order to stay in the captains good graces. As a movement inquiry into the human spirit during slavery, I was very drawn to moving with the African gele cloth throughout the space. I had used it at the LAMP festival, it was surprisingly hypnotic despite it sharp staccato tones, and provided me much room to create to. I carried it over into this site. What fun! Also, in my research I was not surprised to find out that at some point, many African songs and rhythms interchanged with sailor chanties during this time - and that the governing land colonies could penalize a sailor who sang such a fusion!
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