Emergence is a silent 2-channel video installation created to symbolically counter the violence of blackface in its representation of Blackness.
Shot in extreme slow motion and projected at a large scale, Emergence features four Black models, two males and two females, with a range of complexions. The figures are shown in two distinct stages. In the first, they are behind glass, trying to escape, with their distorted faces and bodies pressing against the invisible barrier, alluding to the restrictive conditions that entrap Black bodies in stereotypes as well as their daily struggle to break free. They are silenced, they scream but cannot be heard. In the second phase, the models are no longer constrained by the barrier exude peacefulness in their full, natural beauty.
The large-scale closeups render every detail of the skin texture and the hair, both highlighting and questioning the physical markers of Blackness. These parts of lips, noses and eyes posit the face as a signifying landscape. The piece also carries references to human zoos, popular well into the early 20th century. These attractions in Europe and North America took racialized and disabled people and displayed them in enclosures for the amusement of more “civilized” citizens.
The installation can be presented in two different configurations: with the two channels side by side or facing each other. In the latter case, when the models are trapped behind the glass, the viewers themselves, between the two projections, also become uncomfortably confined.
