TRANSMISSION/ TRANSITION. HAMED MAIYE, MULTIDISCIPLINARY VISUAL ARTIST, UCA (ALUMNI). Transmission/Transition is a visual essay that extends on a previous collaborative project; Afro-Portraitism. Afro-Portraitism explores the art of portraiture within the African diaspora, taking all the connotations portraiture has carried throughout history and applying them to today’s current social climate. One of the key drivers of AP is exploring the concept of self-representation. T/T reflects upon an internal monologue based around the feeling of displacement, and plays around with Du Bois’ concept of double consciousness. Du Bois explains this concept as viewing your identity in separate pieces, making it difficult to view it as a whole. He reflects on his African heritage and his navigation through a Euro-dominated society. The dialogue of the visuals is set in three stages of displacement: - Discovery - Confusion/Chaos - Reclamation Discovery The welcoming to a strange land. Discovery introduces the context and the characters and then sets the stage for the internal conversation which takes place in confusion/chaos. Confusion/Chaos is the internal conversation based on displacement. How do we visualise our feelings of confusion? Viewing your identity through another lens. Discomfort, compression, expansion. Reclamation is the digestion of internal conflict and the reconciliation of all the
feelings experienced throughout confusion/ chaos. The conversion of displacement into a sense of belonging; not to your context but to your personal identity. The output of T/T is a short film & photo series opened up by Sun Ra who states “If someone lands on planet earth from outer space, what kind of treatment would they get? Because what country do you have that would give them any kind of respect? Ah… protect them, you don’t have any country that has thought about that. But since we’re living in the space age it should be thought of”. We follow three characters and watch as they navigate throughout the landscape, living through the three stages of displacement. In the end the characters find unity and reconciliation. Adorned by hyper opulent clothing and objects they reclaim their identity, finding a sense of belonging within self. The photo series captured by Nwaka Okparaeke and styled by Kashmir Wikham and Jawara Alleyne, further explores the concept of hyper opulence. The consistent use of gold acts as a visual affirmation to blackness and to self. An intersection of Afro-Portraitism and AfroSurrealism, T/T serves as a reminder of personal reflection and affirmation. Reflection: This project originates from a consistent feeling I’ve tried to reconcile with but struggled to identify. Through a series of reflections and personal thoughts I start by contextualising the word displacement. By definition, displacement is described as “the action of moving something from its BODY POLITIĆ. // 69
