The Research

Loosely thinking about:

Translations/Mistranslations of culture
Cultural appropriation
Processes of creolization/hybridity..also as means of resistance
Ritual and revolutionary force

Last year i was researching Haitian Vodou for a project and dissertation at college. I was looking more at misrepresentations of Vodou in Western culture. Therefore it was more about 'VOODOO'...the anxieties invoked around this particular cultural phenomena. Voodoo as a construct, in order to portray blackness or rather the black man, in particular the Haitian as savage and uncivilised. Something quite separate from authentic Haitian Vodou.

In this year's research i plan to return to Haiti, however i'm now considering cultural appropriation and invention within Vodou altar assemblge. How these disparate fragments can become tools of resistance through the dynamics of transformation and bricolage. How everyday objects and materials are taken and invested with new lives and meanings. A process of translation from the mundane into the extraordinary, this piecing together results in a whole, which remains uniquely Haitian.

I've been interested in the appropriation of images and icons from Catholicism in Vodou for a while now. Coming from an Irish Catholic background, i was always fascinated by the gold altar objects and decadent ornamentation and i like going into churches, even if i don't agree with everything they're saying, i find the smell, the decoration and the small rituals quite comforting. I've also been looking into the myth of Bois Caimen in Haiti, which is the Vodou ceremony that supposedly sparked off the slave revolution, resulting in the country's independance in 1804. The idea of gatherings and ritual as a catalyst for revolution.

The Garms

As regards my practice, i want to veer away from costume as a solitary pursuit and ensure the pieces involve the spectator, blurring the divide between artist/viewer performer/spectator etc. Through the possibility of altaring someone else's creation, i am thinking about rules of authorship and how to question them.

Currently i'm working on a small piece for my South African housemate, who is travelling home through Africa and leaves on MONDAY..AARRRGH!! yep gotta get me skates on. Have not tried anything too ambitious, due to time constraints but also because i'm interested not only in how the piece affects the environment but also how the environment affects and creates the piece..transformation through mobility. Will talk more about this soon, but planning on creating some kind of travelblog for the garment (and its wearer) to keep me posted as to it's antics.