Forget-Me-Knot
‘Forget-Me-Knot’ is fueled by haptic historiographies and ancestral connections to objects, time & space. Concentric in form, they are archives of the body inspired by both personal and collective memory, as well as, indigenous practices of speculative cartography. I consider them mnemonic maps as they become tactile aids for retelling origin myths and other stories of historical importance.
Using contemporary adornment practices of the body, particularly the lengthy false fingernail, serves as an allegorical reference to desired rest practices rooted in anti-labor. I render a decorative motif that is woven, repeated, and layered along the skin of my ceramic objects (i.e. “Forget Me Knot” series), often signifying the cartography of the bodily scar/mark.
Inherited from my parental guides, this pattern that is created by a singular motif is one that fossilizes my identity as a Nigerian American. It is a commemorative pattern that is a visual blend of indigenous West African scarification practices that once identified familial structures and mapped migration paths of mythic heroes. In addition, this pattern references contemporary African American beauty practices which can be found throughout my treatment of ceramic material.
FORGET-ME-KNOT, SERIES.
2023-24.
CERAMIC STONEWARE WITH CUSTOM GLAZES.
VARYING SIZES.
2023-24.
CERAMIC STONEWARE WITH CUSTOM GLAZES.
VARYING SIZES.