Myths, Home and Self Portraiture

Wendy Red Stars exhibition showcased themes of family ancestry, and historical identity. She portrays her ancestors in a positive light compared to how they are typically portrayed in this country.  She uses designs and cultures on a variety of mediums that stem from her own culture. Her devotion and allegiance to her culture is something that resonated within me, as someone who has had their peoples image dragged through the mud with ignorance, I always appreciate ones loyalty to their people’s roots. When she depicts the children in stuffed animals she reminds me of the bizarre mythology within my own culture. Most of the myths that originate from South America are supernatural and frightening. My final project may not be based on that aspect on my culture but will show appreciation and wisdom of ancient practices in which the mythology stems from, much like Wendy Red Stars exhibition.

Skywriters and constellations is a long-term exhibition by the artist Kambui Olujimi. It was a multi-media presentation of a science fiction genre in a dystopian world that was sensational and engulfing. At first impression of the presentation you hear a woman’s voice, her tone sounds like radio static and is monotone the entirety of the piece. Right away, the viewer is bombarded with a fast paced narrative and intoxicating images in silhouette figures merged with time and space iconography and constellations.

It starts off with an orphan named Iku who runs an orphanage. One day he discovers strange creatures that give him special candy that hold the secrets of the world. He learns about the Mother of all Secrets, Tenil. In a very fast paced manner, we see an absence of home and family. Despite being warned not to pursue the Mother of all Secrets, he chooses to search for her thinking that he will be praised for it by society. After years of futile searching he is left mute and forgotten. The viewer can spot themes of loneliness and a thirst for acceptance.

 Kambui Olujimi’s presentation of his dystopian narrative is filled with bizarre mythology. He attempts to light himself on fire when Kia, a young runaway saves him. He ends up at the Moxy Hotel in a town called Dedden. The caretaker of the hotel is Nailah. Nialah soon reveals to Iku that she is triplet and along with her younger sister Kia, and older sister Yvonne, they are their own past, present, and future. Nailah creates memory machines that she launches in different towns until she gets found by the authorities and is forced to runway again and again. The machines vary in function and can file memories from someone’s mind to delete, share and store. There is an excerpt where Iku eventually finds a hippopotamus figure in his reflection named Lester who reveals that he is not an orphan and that his mother was kidnapped and taken captive in a drug lords compound. After searching for the mother to try and rescue her Lester finds her and realizes that she does not want be found. She refuses to leave with Lester and to meet Iku. Lester then tries and forces her to come with them and but then gets shot down by the guards. This can be interpreted as Lester being an extension of Iku’s mind. After learning that his mother had no interest in him, the part of his mind that Lester was, died. Later on Iku finds out that Nailah is actually one of many shape shifters who on to try and create social change. In the end, Iku dies as Nailah launches her last memory machine called The Lullaby. Olujimis addresses a suppressed identity of himself and the secondary characters. He is voided of a home for most of the narrative.