Sacred Objects
The sacred objects’ primary spiritual function is to demarcate space for ancestral as well as descendants of Strange Fruit, an expansive lineage of African Diasporic people in America. The forms possess the power to communicate ancestral blessings such as energy, memory, forgiveness and love, providing an opportunity for multi-layered healing personally as well as environmentally. These abstract portraits of Strange Fruit are a commemoration of a range of subjects and their unique, complicated behaviors developed through resisting Anti-Blackness. In the midst of survival, deadly environmental effects plague these inhabitants, causing a long-term development of various Anti-Black tendencies. However, by creating these intimate moments to honestly learn from our past selves as well as provide guidance for moving forward, these forms become a beacon of solace in the face of violence.
The spiritual function of the sacred objects are activated through the choice of material and approach to construction. Action and touch carry energy, while clay records movement and memory. The way the marks are made deeply affect the commemoration as well as the overall spiritual tactility function. The Fruits are primarily handbuilt because this method provides a careful, diligent approach to constructing ideals about Blackness. Pinching has a meditative, warm loving nature that slowly builds up the image of the subject. In addition, when working hollow, the form looks as abstract on the outside as it looks on the inside. There are a few adornments or appendages that are added to accentuate the form, but the work is primarily mirrored externally as internally to deliberately communicate the continuity between the spaces. Similarly, the improvisational, voluptuous contours also forge a sense of harmony between the observer and the Fruit, reflecting the natural duality between tumultuous chaos and intrinsic beauty, a core pillar of the Black experience. These dual energies flow like water through the sacred objects, are transmitted through touch and absorbed by the recipient, rejuvenating inherited ancestral traumas and internalized anguish.