"Confusion of Terms"
installed in the Third Barn, Orefield, PA.
I thank Damon Gelb and Muhlenberg Theater for the walls.
The space houses a small tar-black figure with a huge white grin, hair of toothbrushes, and an American flag dress.
The Kaefigeledjo oracle figure of the Senufo tradition is a connection to the spiritual realm.
Its purpose is to reveal illegal and unacceptable acts. I was inspired by Kerry James Marshall, violence, white
American teeth, the shit-eating grin, Papa Guede and having my teeth knocked out for not minding my business.
To the right there are three manual-like line drawings. They show DIY workout machines whose depiction
pushes the potential to function as torture devises as well. To the left is a dividing wall with 3 small slits,
inspired by the solitary-confinement spaces of the now empty Eastern State Penitentiary in Philadelphia.
The slits allow a limited view into the second space which houses the objects pictured in the drawings.
In a video on the wall, a man, dressed in an American flag suit, uses the machines.
This is inspired by Colin Kaepernick's protest of institutional violence against the black body.
For America's entertainment, he willingly exposes his body to violence and lost his job because he used his voice.
I am inspired by how American's varied national identities define ideas of freedom, entertainment and free-time.
I ask that Limited Agency confront the Illusion of Agency and ask how intimidation provoked by fear gives security.
