Research Journey is a culmination of a year-long exploration into archiving forgotten identities, where diverse materials and experimental practices come together to tell untold stories. This exhibition sheds light on the intersection of memory, art, and identity, inviting the audience to engage with the traces of the past.
New pieces of work were introduced in this end-of-year show at teh Royal College of Art.
‘Tides’ (2024) is a large-scale cyanotype print on archival paper, capturing the theme of migration, and the politics of water in the Caribbean. Created during a research trip in Jamaica, the piece was ripped apart by the ocean, reassembled together and joined with dark blue hues mending and filling in the fissures of the work. Lying like a map of a new world, warping like the waves of the sea, ‘Tides’ is a metaphor for the journey of finding oneself, and challenging the question of identity.
'It Hurts in this Body Still' explores the theme of grief and memory through an auto-ethnographic lens. It honours and reflects the loss of my twin sister, lost at birth due to medical negligence, a tragic and visceral experience I mirror with the broader cultural loss of diasporic communities navigating through the complex journey of identity.
THESIS ABSTRACT
In engaging with bell hooks’ concept of the “love ethic” from her work ‘Salvation: Black People and Love’, my work interrogates how love— as a transformative force and also as a methodological approach—can deeply influence the archival process. It proposes that by embodying love in their approach and their work, both the artist and the archivist can create a more empathetic and inclusive archive that preserves and also celebrates the nuanced histories of marginalised communities.
Through a personal narrative, I explore how the act of loving the subjects of our study—whether people, objects, or memories—can transform the archival space into one of active engagement and restoration. This approach does not merely catalogue the past but seeks to understand and honour the emotional and spiritual dimensions of historical experiences. By embracing the love ethic, the archive becomes a space where forgotten histories are remembered and infused with dignity and life, offering a counter-narrative to the often sterile and impersonal nature of traditional historical inquiry.
As I reflect on my own experience with grief and identity, and as I engage with archival material, I continually return to the essential questions, “Who do we love?” and “How do we remember?” These questions guide the reimagining of the archive as a place of memory and also of healing, challenging the narratives of victimisation and passive suffering that frequently dominate the histories of diasporic populations. My research thus advocates for a historiography that is rooted in love, care, and the active participation of the subjects it seeks to represent, ensuring that their voices and stories are not merely preserved but are also celebrated as vital parts of the human experience.