De/Recomposition, 2024
De/Recomposition is an ongoing series of cyanotypes, each printed on 46” x 46” fabric, that explore both the spiritual and physical dimensions of the drowning deaths endured by Africans captured during the Atlantic Slave Trade. In this body of work, I continue my exploration of the past and current relationships between Black people and water, relationships indelibly shaped by the shared trauma of 400 years of transAtlantic crossings. These pieces function as individual visual essays that reject the reduction of 12 million people to nameless faceless statistics from long ago, instead honoring the individuality and humanity of those who perished with personal narratives. As part of a global movement to reclaim spirit and insist on the recognition of complete personhood, this work compels viewers to engage with individual reflections of love, death, heartbreak, and rebirth, and to consider the inevitabilities of both trauma and triumph throughout 400+ years.
The process of creating these narratives was in itself a somber parallel to the decay a body would undergo after death. After being cut open, the Polaroid was immersed in hot water, which began to erode the film, creating unique distortions to the surface. Afterwards, the detached film of the Polaroid backing, a soft substance eerily similar to skin, took on new form and became the source material for the larger cyanotypes.
The cyanotype process requires a water bath to reveal its Prussian blue tones; for these images I intentionally used saltwater to forge a direct connection between the medium and the element that played such a profound role in this history. With this process, the water is not merely my necessary tool, but an agent of remembrance and transformation, mirroring the profoundly important role water has always had throughout the diaspora.