Elsewhere Museum Residency #109
Curation Doll in Nana’s Chair
Curation Doll draws power to protect so that we do not have to be strong. The doll figure has skin made of images of flowers arranged from Elsewhere’s own fabric collection. The era of these fabrics informs the aesthetic and associations of the florals. The actual flowers collected from the collection drape the doll and, it’s resting chair, and the frames on the wall creating a protective covering. The artist’s own family would make fabric dolls and place them on chairs both as showcases of skills previously only appreciated in a domestic context but what felt to be as protectors of a domestic space. The Doll figure sits relaxed and reserved in front of an abstracted family photo wall. Pulling more power from the idea of personal black curation in reference to an essay by Bell Hooks about how home photo walls were some of the only places Black people were able to control their own image in a gallery like space.
Gather at least one flower from every floral fabric at Elsewhere that I can find (or everyone that currently is not already part of another installation). Scan or recreate the flower and create a new floral print using all of the flowers collected. Also cut out the flowers chosen and stitch them all together to make a large doll dress. The floral print created can be printed down the street at red canary. This fabric is then used to create a fabric doll protector. In my family cloth dolls were often placed in chairs both as a decoration and personal expression but also as a protector of a house. The flowers cut out will cloth and cover the doll. The Doll will be placed in a collection chair and placed in a part of Elsewhere where a recreation or slight abstraction of a grandmother’s family photo wall can be constructed. Bell hooks had an essay where they discussed how personal photography hung in black homes was interesting because it was one of the only times you would see how Black people chose to curate themselves and what mattered to them. So I want to back this doll with that sort of power. This doll will be strong so that we don’t have to be. The flowers all connected from different prints span different times and styles and represent femmes joint power.
Toe Walker
Toewalker is an exercise in body awareness and personal appreciation. It encourages audiences to consider how they take up space in the world and how their body automatically navigates. The artist naturally walks on the balls of her feet. A trait that is hereditary but was also encouraged in girl children as benign a femme trait. Walking on your toes one is used to moving through the world quietly and minimally. This was interrupted by the very old and loud floors of Elsewhere. Jasmine decided to fight their instinct to walk on the quietest parts of the floor and actively seek out where the floor makes the most noise.
Toewalker is made up of bright, balls of feet only, painted footprints that directly correlate to how loud the floor is where the most footprints reside. Toewalker invites audiences to play with how much space they want to take up with their movement and how much attention they allow themselves to draw to their movement in Elsewhere.
Walk around all visible flooring in shared spaces. Paint my feet a bright color and step the most in the areas where my footsteps create the loudest noise. I’m a toe walker who has kept up this way of walking into adulthood. This way of walking is often discouraged in children especially boy children due to it being considered overly feminine. My toe walking has often been a way I naturally minimize my body the amount of space I take up and the amount of attention I draw to myself while moving. I’m used to not being perceived as a threat and used to going unnoticed while moving within a building. While at Elsewhere, I’ve become very aware of my movement and my body due to the old loud floorboards. And immediately have the urge to “rectify how much attention I feel these floors draw to me by avoiding those areas of the floors and walking even lighter. What if I tried embracing it and making as much noise as possible with my steps? This piece will ask those who come to Elsewhere to think about how they move and how much is active decision making.