for a black girl making things
For A Black Girl Making Things is my senior capstone project for the UCLA Design Media Arts department. This piece was included in the virtual Senior exhibition Looking In/Looking Out. This work was created in my graduating quarter at UCLA, at the beginning of the stay-at-home orders in response to COVID-19. I initially planned to create a physical piece but was limited to creating a digital piece because of my limited resources and inability to access the on-campus design labs.
For A Black Girl Making Things is a personal manifesto addressing my art and design processes as a Black Woman. Through observing the works of Black Women artists, this project addresses the world’s perceptions of what a Black Woman artist is and what work made by a person with this identity means or looks like. This manifesto stands as a guide for myself and others who may be able to relate to it. In this book I reflect on one of my past works, A Wall of Hair, and interview the following artists: Lydienne Albertoe, Kya Lou, Serana Angelista Playing Indigo, and T.J. Dedeaux-Norris. I would like to give special thanks to these amazing artists who shared their thoughts with me and helped me develop my own values as an artist. I would also like to thank Willem Henri Lucas & Berfin Ataman for their patience and guidance, Jamie Gonzalez for her constant encouragement and advice, Mismak Tadesse, Samson Mengistu & Elone Mengistu for their continued love and support, and Nia McClinton & Mai-Lin Graves for their friendship and critiques. <3
