MISCELLANEOUS
installations | galleries | the undefinable
CREATIVE WEBSITE BRIEF: MELANIN4S
(Ongoing)
‘MELANIN4S’ is a fictional website advertising the ‘melanin’ of different races as a product for consumers to buy. It is set in a futuristic reality where race swapping is now a real possibility controlled by the eponymous MELANIN4S organization, which has capitalized on this novel concept. Originally conceived as a modern take of Keith Obadike’s Blackness for Sale (2001), MELANIN4S doubles down on the original work’s premise, which was a small self-contained eBay post from one individual looking to profit off of their own race. However, this simple concept is ballooned into a gargantuan capitalist cooperation that is far removed from one man’s struggle. As often is the case in the modern day, Black people (and people of colour in general) often have the simplest things, our struggles themselves, turned into a commodity to exploit. In addition to the original piece, I was also very much inspired by the short film White (2011, directed by A. Sayeeda Clarke) which explores a very similar concept of a dystopian world where people can sell their melanin.
This piece is essentially a response to the passive or subtle racism we see often in today’s society. Back in the day, if people didn’t like you because of your skin colour, they’d let you know, explicitly, but today people who still hold these archaic sentiments will shield their views under a layer of false pretence and niceties. Just because people aren’t as bold as they were before, doesn’t mean that they still don’t hold their biases. That’s why this piece involves a lot of euphemisms and isn’t as direct as Obadike’s original. It also plays a lot into false activism, in the sense that the entirety of the website is trying to portray itself as a progressive move forward, when it is essentially doing the bare minimum and actively harming the cause it seems so passionate about.
Everything, from the name (Melanin 4 Us - as an accessory for the upper class to use) down to the actual design of the website (being mostly white and using any hint of colour only as an accent to complement the whiteness), has been carefully planned to represent this particular bias. The names of the different ‘Body’ types all being food names and henceforth something to be consumed and used rather than appreciated as the website would like you to think; the tagline implying diversity to be an interesting character trait rather than an essential part of one’s identity; the hidden details, contract pages and more are all there to show an implicit bias. The website’s hidden features also allow for some commentary on capitalist organizations often trying to prey on consumer insecurities or hide prices/dangers of a product. The website is built to show not only (but primarily) racial biases, but some social biases against body types (e.g. Body products only fitting ‘some’ bodies, a.k.a thin ones), social class and living situations.
All of this ties into race, especially in the website’s more straightforward sections (such as the google form which assigns race based on qualities that have much more to do with one’s social status than race). My goal here is to expand this website into a more cohesive and multifaceted project and to have more control over the design aspects than what I currently have available to me with free website editors. I would also create actual shopping pages, a ‘buying’ system, more in depth info (which I of course would provide), a page to explain what the website is and its inspirations, and eventually going into the other Body types rather than just Chocolate (after finding appropriate sources and some thorough research). Some examples of other artistic websites that I could potentially see this website becoming like can be found here (a much more experimental version) and here (something more straightforward).
GALLERIES
Presented at “Into a Kaleidoscope”
CHROMA’S KEY is a mixed-media experimental art installation comprising of a radio show, a commercial played on a CRT TV, and a computer display all inspired by early 2000s technology. Participants are encouraged to find the password to a locked CD, which contains 'chroma's key' by interacting with the exhibition. Its multimedia format invites users to re-format their romanticization for early 2000s nostalgia. Our project aims to not only invoke feelings of nostalgia, but also demystify it. Through the ever-expanding network of the World Wide Web, we will examine the good and the bad of early 2000s internet core, from the fun and bright visuals of Windows XP, down to its slow load times and abysmal performance speeds. Participants will experience the digital side of these internet relics, and the very much physical/analogue pieces associated with them, experiencing this tactileness first hand by using a CD player to read a video, and navigating through the Windows XP interface.
The crossroads of liminality and chroma-keying technology inspired CHROMA'S KEY. Both focus on the jarring and uncanny limbo between “what was” and “what will be”. Especially in the artistic sphere of things, the repeated aesthetic downgrade of quirkier and more inventive designs to accommodate plainer, more corporate looks, makes the future seem seeped in a palette of monochrome compared to the rainbow of the past. Minimalism, symmetry and sleek designs have all but taken over the design world in the past few decades. With all this in mind, when looking back at the past through rose-coloured glasses (as we often do), it is hard to look forward to the future without apprehension. CHROMA’S KEY hopes to change this by removing the mysticism of nostalgia and presenting it flatly, as its most honest self. The past was a charm, but the future still holds hope too.
CHROMA’S KEY was a collaborative project with Ivan Ceria.
Presented at “DesignTO Youth: Blueprint”
FULL TRANSPARENCY - Read original artist statement here
This film was changed from its original vision. As life is full of surprises (some good and some bad), so is art and creation, and unfortunately the original edit of this film was lost. Change is often unwanted, uninvited and unexpected. It is rarely neat or orderly. It doesn’t wait for us to adapt to it nor does it ever retreat or leave, even when you ask politely. Change often ruins plans and alters our ideas, but of course, without it things could never grow.
I am admittedly disappointed that the version of this film I almost had is gone. There were ideas for it that will never come to fruition, and time and effort I put into it that has forever been wasted. The attachment I had for that film (which I had to recreate with only pieces of the original) makes me want to hate this change, but sometimes things have to be drastic in order to create an active difference. I think you know what I’m getting at here.
Sometimes change is a pasted note over an artist statement in a gallery, where you can easily see through it to what original plans could be (even if there’s no point to it anymore). Sometimes change is months of work getting deleted with no rhyme or reason. But most importantly, sometimes (more often than not) change is necessary.
Even if we love our films, our cities, and our homes, there is almost always something that can and should be changed about them - whether you like it or not. This is what my current film aims to illustrate.
Presented at “CameraLinks 2024: Who am I?”
When given the opportunity to participate in Gallery44’s CameraLinks gallery, I was initially hesistant as I had only very recently begun my darkroom photography journey, and only had limited photos on hand to display. Eventually though, I settled on one.
I’m still not sure exactly what brought me to this ‘Untitled’ image of a flag waving in the wind, the words ‘I’m sorry grandma’ partially obscured on it, but I found something poignant about it. Flags are often used as powerful symbols that represent countries, politics and identities. In this sense they are used as a tool for communication, but not usually this bluntly.
There is something poetic about using a flag to spread a message like this. It is a display for all to see, all to understand, while retaining the original symbolic meaning of a flag, yet it is only meant for one person. This image proves that a flag is not a piece of coloured cloth waving in the wind. It is a message, and it can say whatever you want it to say.
Your dress waving in the wind.
This
is the only flag I love.
~ Garous Abdolmalekian (Translation: Idra Novey)
Interactive Films
Alina is simply a character in a game, destined to do only what is strictly outlined for her by the player character. But what if there is more to her than that. What if she can escape the narrator dictacting her life and make her own decisions? In this interactive film, you can help Alina go down the path of obedience, or escape into her own world.
Travel through a world dictated by a strict gender binary in this quirky interactive film with a twist! Choose between a male and female avatar and traverse a regular day as a university student. Talk to other students, make dialogue choices and soak in the pixel art - but also the lesson. Not everything is as binary as you think it is.
Audio Work
a glimpse of me experimental coffee shop pond
a glimpse of me experimental coffee shop pond