Black Time, Past Presences (2024)
metal, glass / 15” in
The portrayal of clocks aims to encapsulate the intricate, non-linear paths of time and the profound significance they hold within the geographies of the Black diaspora. I believe that time can be defined as the ticking of a clock, a tally of worked hours, but can expand to measurements of when and how people are placed within history. The story of time can expand to be the story of one’s history and how one is able to access these archives/ facts. Tied to labour, language, land, and religion, the erasures of traditional practices around and through time were replaced with institutionalized and Western religious practices.”
In the creation of Black Time, I am reminded of Audre Lorde’s famous quote, “The master's tools will never dismantle the master’s house”. In my attempt to unravel the master’s narrative, I ponder on the purpose of the clock as a tool and for whom. Can an object we have been trained to understand as an indicator of time be used differently?