"Fly Emirates"

“Fly Emirates” is an assemblage piece exploring forms of becoming and passage in relation to the dressed black body. In creating this piece I took particular interest in the dress of young men/boys in West Africa who can often be pictured mixing their personal style with European soccer jerseys. The names of global athletes such as “Ronado” spill over their backs. While this act of becoming has often been interpreted as merely imitating dominant and ultimately white European culture, I want to show how dress allows them to transcend the limitations of their bodies and environment. By shape shifting through dress, the boys morph into something new and hybrid–a form of traveling on their own accord. Whether it be through clanking buckles, crunching batik, rustling feathers and piano gears, or rumbling pearls and cowrie shells, each object gathered and assembled houses the weight of this passage and transformation both sonically and materially. Segments of nylon stockings function as skin, encasing the work while leaving areas “skinless” and open. The act of hammering/nailing the piece and the specific sounds which surface from each “Bang” draws resonance with Nkisi traditions in West Africa surrounding the corporealizing of objects and spirits.