So PJ's got her navigational tools, right? She just needs a place to try them out and use them.... Like, say for instance  at the University of Maryland Baltimore County 's Rethinking Intellectual Activism Conference. What a fun and eye opening experience presenting PJ in that context. I was in the "Performing politics of race" section and gave my presentation on "Social Gesture: the Choreography and Performance of social rebellion"  and discussed social and expressive choreography, anarchy in all forms in regards to slave rebellion, capoeira, sea chanties, gender politics, especially within pirate and slaves communities. It was nice to finally use and map out space during my presentation in order for PJ to take, or rather move the discussion outside of the classroom and through the conference space and after lead a Q & A session. I'm also very excited to say that I'm collaborating with a great video artist on the footage of this presentation - Cola Lola Marie, a fellow Mountie and we are working on a multidisciplinary video of Pirate Jenny and a conceptual exploration of  who she is, it's definitely a moving piece in progress...

So with the use of navigational tools for hurtling PJ through time, sea and water, I was very inspired by the ancient sea navigation tools that were used by mariners ages ago. How could something so simple as an astrolabe and the night sky be so influential in getting people where they had to to go by sea? Well, it wasn't that simple - it was intricate and the night sky and the day sky were easy to read if you knew how...

With that in mind - I developed a body of work using photography, movement and sculpture based around Pirate Jenny's navigational tools for sea and time travel. The use of reed and bamboo was a great carry over from my performance costume class as its flexibility allowed me to create 3D pieces that reflected my love and experience of movement and gesture. Of course in the spirit of anarchy, I took pictures right outside of the equally principled bookstore and coffeehouse Red Emma's. Check out some of the pics of me prepping for the shoot and sizing up my stuff.

Well its been an incredible spring and its turning out to be an even more wonderfully juicy summer. Happy to say that the Spring semester and final reviews on the Mountain (Mount Royal School of Art) kicked my tail and taught me so much. My fellow Mounties  are definitely one of a kind and it's great to be sharing creative space and expressive time with these folks.

Figuring my way through the semester is definitely something I won't forget - and I do think the occurrence of me stepping outside my comfort zone and working in unexpected creative contexts helped me with navigating my way expressively. Speaking of navigation, I decided to take  a performance and costume class - The Expanded Body with an incredible Baltimore based fiber and performance artist Melissa Webb. This exposed me to so much history, fiber, culture and performance context. In addition to learning how to walk on stilts (yes - I said and did just that), I was so happy to have one of those universal artist "aha moments" when it came to the building of wearable structures part of the class - especially with such flexible mediums like reed and bamboo. In regards to the topic of navigation, I had been looking to see how my newly acknowledged alter ego, Pirate Jenny could get around. Ideas of  navigation - all in the realm of sea navigation instruments, time traveling, movement and mapping began to take shape.

This was definitely a perfect place for me to link those ideas into the previous context of pirates and run away slaves interacting, as well as examining the social choreography and anarchist themes that came from such a collusive existence in the context of social  governance within outcast communities. Also, I'd never mapped out my alter ego before, even with the many mediums of drawing and fabric it was great to see where I could take PJ creatively, conceptually and realistically. I know she's definitely an anarchist - but I'm not sure entirely where she'll take me either.

Some information about some of the boats that were in the installation. They are made from African cloth called 'gele'. This is the well known Nigerian material used as a head wrap by their women.  They are really quite a work of beauty, and I personally believe this can be of the most unique and personal statements of art that Nigerian women all over the world can make so simply. Check out the amazing pics below of the gele.

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.

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!

Me working on my first installation of Jenny. *sniff* *sniff* Look at  Jenny. she's so little in this pic! Take a look at the finished result  - Much love to Chris Sedita for the assistance and  to Adejoke Tugbiyele for getting this moment on video.

For this particular installation - I was initially toying around with the idea of a shrine in a ships hold. The ship based festival theme lent itself to the strength of the human spirit, and with the happenstance of a wooden lobster catcher I picked up in my programs studio, and me making origami boats -  ideas and concepts unfolded themselves towards other things that went on boats like cargo, supplies, people, slaves, servants, etc. The possibilities of cultures and people colliding, not just with me deciding to fold origami paper, African fabric and eventually slave trade routes into boats, but with me looking at the determination of the human spirit through slavery, or migrations, Ellis Island and other events.

With the song Pirate Jenny, originally performed by Lotte Lenya and stunningly (and rightfully) reappropriated by Nina Simone, I began to research female pirates. Whoa. Fierce. Fearsome. Beating the odds as gender bending, strategic and militant ladies ruling the seas alongside and even better than men. Pirates in general started to play into the fabric of this work, and the odds they played with on the seas and governing bodies of land.  The name sake of this work was a play on the Weill song, as well as a nod to female pirates and pirates in general. Moreover, as the research and work evolved in the beginning stages, I began to wonder if pirates intersected with the Atlantic Slave Trade - hence  the part of me folding slave trade routes and origami paper into boats. Once I touched on that - a world opened up to me and the information I found. Can we say all systems go? I felt ready to just jump into the unknown seas of information with movement, culture and research.

Oh my goodness. Where to begin with this?  Jenny.Was.A.Pirate.Hater was literally an idea from the song, Pirate Jenny from Kurt Weill's  Three Penny Opera. Picture my first month of graduate school (September, 2013) I was invited to be part of the L.A.M.P festival (Light Artists Making Places) this past October (2013) in New Haven, CT. The theme was based around the Phantom Shippe of New Haven that was rumored to have caved in on itself as it was sighted on New Haven Colony shores many months after its arrival date. Here is the creepy part - apparently, upon it's sighting - the ship was said to have caved in on itself right before it reached the shore. Even creepier - a ghostly lone figure was said to have been at the masthead pointing its sword towards the briny deep before its watery descent.  Nevertheless, what stuck out to me was the incredible amount of strength of the human spirit during this challenging time. That and others who were going through incredible challenges during the time of this myth. Probably around the 17th and 18th centuries. Even if the lone figure was a myth - the Ship itself, hailing from England took it's merry time getting there, and I can only imagine what the Captain had to do in order to keep the boat in one piece.