CassieCeeART

SketchUp...

Storyboard for final concept 

( refer to previous post for the narrative)

Final Concept with MoodBoards....

For my final concept I decided to create a narrative based on the life of a fictional character that experiences racial hatred and discrimination throughout their entire life.

The final concept tells the story of ‘Amoy, a young black girl born to Jamaican parents, Trevor and Doreen. Amoy’s parents originally moved from Jamaica to the Uk (Birmingham) in the late 1960s as they strived for a better life, in the country whose roads were paved in gold. Doreen fell pregnant in September 1974 and would later give birth to little Amoy on April 26th1975.

Amoy was a happy child; her home life was filled with love, joy and laughter. Her parents worked hard and always tried their best to teach their daughter how to always do the right thing in life, even if she felt like the outcome wasn’t fair. They knew of the struggles that existed outside the comfort of their little haven and would spend time trying to prepare their little girl for what was yet to come. Amoy would only really experience the harsh realities of the world when she started school in 1981.

To show specific events in Amoy’s life I decided to split the gallery space into 6 areas; consisting of 5 stages and one visual post (area 6).

The main section (area 1) would host the Benjamin Zephaniah typewriter, which would type the narrative live with a supporting voiceover. Information about the typewriter and its origin would be located just outside the gallery to give it context so that the audience could read about it before they are welcomed in.

The audience would be invited to view 4 key moments in Amoy’s life that represent and ultimately steer the direction and choices she would later make. I decided to capture each moment through collage.

Collage for area 2

Playground setting - The innocence of a child – 1981 (Age 5)

Amoy attends a predominantly white school. Very few kids look like her.

The audience will gather round and view footage of conversations between children based on racial hatred. Examples of content “My mom said I can’t play with you because you don’t look like me”, “My daddy said that all colored people are monkeys”, “My grandad use to own your grandad” etc.……

The screen would then go blank and a projection of a school classroom would take its place. The stage area will light up and the audience will see a school playground setting with a figure of Amoy stood crying. Audio of kids playing and Amoy’s thoughts at that time would play (similar to monologue without the actor).

Collage for area 3

The Den – 1991 (Age 16)

It’s the end of the academic year and Amoy has finally left school with good grades. Her overall opinion of school isn’t great. She always tried her best and always submitted her work on time but unfortunately found that she was having to defend herself constantly as she was consistently singled out for petty reasons. Her teachers didn’t like her but she knew that in order to get through school, she had to keep her head down. This discrimination against her ultimately led to her meeting more kids like herself. They were labelled ‘The colored kids’ aka ‘The trouble makers. The Den is a place where Amoy and her friends would go and hang out when they wanted to forget about the harsh realities of the world. It was a place where they would go to chill and vent and just be themselves.

The audience will gather round and view footage of conversations between Amoy and her peers as they talk about their experiences in and outside of school. The screen will go blank and will be replaced with a projection of nature/trees, so that it looks as though they are in a secret den. The stage area will light up to reveal the inside of the den with a seated figure of Amoy. Audio of her thoughts in that moment will play.

Collage for area 4

The Stephen Laurence Inquiry Protests – 1998 (Age 23)

2 years after Amoy left school came the unfortunate death of teenager Stephen Lawrence in April 1993, who was murdered in a racially motivated attack, whilst waiting for a bus. The black community were absolutely outraged with how the police handled the situation. Amoy and her friends were equally disgusted and disturbed. At this point they are really fed up with the prejudices, discrimination and injustices of the world. They just wanted to be treated equally for once. They decide to travel to London to attend the protests as they seek justice for a fellow peer; and to ultimately see some positive change to police systems.  

The audience will gather round to view footage from the protests. The screen will go blank and will be replaced with a projection of crowds from the protests. The stage area will light up and the audience will see a figure of Amoy protesting. Audio of her thoughts will play in that moment along with the sounds of busy crowds.

Collage for area 5

Case of mistaken identity – 2000 (Age 25)

Its 2 years since the protests, Amoy is out celebrating a friend’s birthday. An altercation breaks out between two females who are not associated with the celebrations, which escalates quickly. The police are called because a member of the public claims to have seen a weapon. Sirens are heard and a loud bang follows.

The audience gather round for the final scene. They view footage of Amoy and her friends celebrating and watch as the altercation between the two unknown females escalate. When the sirens are heard, the crowd of people disperse and that’s when the ‘bang is heard. The screen goes black, then the stage lights slowly come up to reveal a slumped figure of Amoy on the floor. Flashing emergency services lights illuminate the set. Audio of her thoughts and sad music will play as the life drains from her body.

I wanted to get the audience to experience the same emotions many families go through in the BAME community. Too many young lives are lost in unjust ways. Too many BAME lives are lost for unjust reasons. Real positive change can only happen when people wake up and unite. The fight isn’t for war … The fight is for Equality

United we stand,

I spent a lot of my time coming up with ideas linked to the British political system and racial hatred but I still felt like something was missing. I found that a lot of the ideas potentially sent out an unintended message about my own dislike for the police. So I changed my approach altogether and decided to research performance exhibitions and shows that get their audiences to engage with their own thoughts and emotions.

I stumbled across ‘Suffragette City’ by Fruit of the apocalypse which saw members of the public prepare to protest alongside the suffragettes to get a vote for women. Here the audience are encouraged to stuff their pockets with rocks, ‘to do damage ‘and are briefed on what to say and do if they are arrested. They are put in a position where they are told to speak out against each other, with some claiming that they felt intimidated when queried. All audience members stood firm because they knew that what they were protesting for was important.

Exploration of Ideas ...

For these ideas, the audience enter the gallery and see figures of POC ( all sizes and ages) presented behind gates on both sides of the room (zoo/prison/caged setting). The walls behind the figures would be plastered in racial hatred … The audience would be recorded secretly. Zephaniahs poems would be played in the background and Information about the typewriter would be outside the gallery.  

The second image shows the sameidea with monkeys, dressed in human attire in the place of the human figures. A bold and disturbing choice, as POC have been compared to them. My thinking behind this one is that people seem to empathize more with animals which was evident in the BLM protests, where people were more concerned about the wellbeing of the horses rather than the human(s) that were killed in unjust ways.

Exploration of Ideas ...

These two designs in particular play on the idea of ‘black being an actual crime. Here figures of POC would be wrapped/surrounded by the tape used in crime scenes. The figures would be presented on individual stands and would have cards which tell you about the individual and their role in day to day life (all ages). Footage would be played and the audience would be secretly recorded with their reactions played on the large screens on the walls.

Exploration of Ideas ...

The first idea sees the gallery walls plastered in stories of arrests and riots. The sound of typing and Zephaniahs work would be heard in the background and flashing lights (blue and red) would illuminate the gallery space.

The second idea shows a dimly lit gallery. Officers(actors) occupying the 4 corners of the room would be observing the audience as they enter and venture around the space. Projections of victims would play on the large screens. Footage of police brutality/riots would be played on the smaller screens next to the large ones.

The typewriter would be presented on a plinth at exhibition entrance and words of poems would be shown on panels on the ground.

Initial Ideas in response to Research ...

These ideas are based loosely around Zephaniah’s incarceration. Some of the immersive experiences would have actors in the role of law enforcement officers, to make it more realistic; whilst the rest are more about observing and drawing your own conclusions.

For the immersive experiences, audience members would be given overalls to wear, to take away their own identities. They’d be experiencing the exhibition as prison inmates and would be encouraged to sit in a prison cell where the doors are shut and the experience begins.(first diagram)

The second is based around Zephaniah’s cell, where the audience would be given the opportunity to go in and have a closer look at all of his possessions. His work would be playing in the background and the typewriter would be placed on his desk.

The third idea is based on an interrogation where members of the audience get to see actors in the roles of police and suspect, play out different scenarios. The audience would also get the opportunity to play the role of suspect with their ‘solicitor’ present as they are accused of crimes they didn’t commit. This experience would be based on cases of mistaken identity and racial profiling.

The second image explores the presentation of sculptures of POC in their daily roles , and how the audience could interact with them .

Injustice’s against black people; specifically black men and youths by law enforcement has been a major issue over time.

 In recent years, in cases where black teens have been approached by officers, members of the public have stepped in and quizzed them, in an attempt to stop a situation from escalating and to also get the police to back off. Its almost as if people are becoming more and more weary of the law, so take it upon themselves to protect each other. Its as though people have lost all hope altogether because this chilling narrative of black people losing their lives in custody has become ‘normal news’... The black community is no longer shocked anymore when stories like these come to light. 

I want my exhibition to ultimately unite its audience... I want to get them thinking about the people around them. I want them to see each other as equals. Colour should never be an issue.

‘We were all human until:

Religion separated us ,

Politics divided us,

Wealth classified us

and Race disconnected us’.

As a part of my exhibition design, I decided that I wanted to include footage of confrontations and arrests made by the police. I wanted to include real footage so that the audience get a real sense of what goes down in these type of situations. I wanted to highlight things that could go right when the correct protocol is followed by the police as well as show how things can take a turn for the worst when people resist because they claim innocence.

To help me with my design ideas, I decided to look at how artists have previously responded to topics linked to race and culture to get an idea of how I could use the gallery space that I am designing for. Above are 3 examples that caught my attention.

1. Taken from the play ‘Black History Museum’ 

“Learn. Laugh. Suffer. Move Along.

An immersive play crossed with an art installation offers sharp angles on race and white supremacy, but is dampened by didacticism”(Phillips, 2019).

This particular shot is of ’The Founding Fathers, played by the black actors Marcia Berry, Langston Darby, Tabatha Gayle, Landon Woodson, and Tori Ann DeNoble, appearing as foils — representatives of white supremacy in America. with only half their faces painted white, to remind us of the slaves our founders owned (Phillips, 2019). 

The overall approach to the topics covered in this 2 hour performance is really interesting and inspiring. The creator of this play decided to use an almost ‘comedic approach to teach, whereas I want to use elements of the harsh reality to inform my audience of the ‘hell that some people are forced to call life.

A link to the review for anyone who is interested.  

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/11/14/theater/black-history-museum-review.html

2. A still taken from the Malvina Hoffman exhibition of ‘The Hall of Man.

The overall concept for this exhibition was to ‘use sculpture as a way to reveal man to his brother (Field Museum,2021).

 In order to achieve this Hoffman would need to travel to different parts of the world, taking casts of people which she would use for her sculptures. I like how the exhibition space has been used. Each sculpture has its own level of importance as it tells its own unique story. 

A link which highlights Hoffmans Journey through the project.

https://www.fieldmuseum.org/malvina-hoffman

3. A still taken from the Nara National Museum, which exhibits one of Japans greatest Buddhist collections.

To gain more intel of the Riots, I watched a few videos online where I was able to hear the first hand experiences of some of the attendees. A lot of them made reference to the behaviour of law enforcement on that particular day.

One account that really stuck out to me was that of a school child who attended with a group of friends; and being shocked at the volume of people that were in attendance. That would also be his first real encounter with the police, as he described being jumped and being forced to line up by an army of officers, along with a few others then being searched for weapons and brick residue on their hands which would show their involvement in antisocial behaviour. Although he was just an innocent bystander at the time, he described being hit with a baton by an officer which left a scar both physically and mentally. He’d lost all hope in law enforcement. 

Fortunately for me, I have been able to watch the Steve McQueen ‘small axe’ series to help gain an understanding of what It was like living in a time where being black was a crime. The ‘Mangrove episode especially brings to life the reality that Zephaniah describes in his interviews. 

I mentioned before that I wanted to focus my ideas around Zephaniahs own experiences of racial hatred as well as run-ins with law enforcement. I’ve been thinking a lot about my own experiences of being on the receiving end of racism from people in the past and how it affected me personally; and my experience of seeing law enforcement harass people close to my own heart, which brought me to the idea of including other people’s experiences on both topics to the exhibition space, which could be streamed throughout the day.

One of my main intentions for the exhibition is to get people from non-ethnic backgrounds to see things through the eyes of a person of colour because unfortunately the world is a fucked up place and a lot of the time people are judged by the colour of their skin and even their name (before they have been seen) and how they look in general.

It becomes extremely frustrating when you set out to be the best version of yourself but society continuously tells you that you aren’t good enough because you’re not some carbon copy of barbie and ken, fresh off the production line or you don’t come from a nice area where neighbours greet each other in the morning and exchange cups of milk and sugar. I think its unfair to judge people on skin colour and background because there is good and bad in every single race.

I’ve had a series of tutorials where I’ve discussed potential ideas that I’ve had. Some of them include involving elements of Zephaniahs work in the designs or dedicating a specific are of the space to his work; with the possibility of having him visit at some point throughout the months (maybe once a month) depending on how long the exhibition is on for and his availability, where he gets to interact with the audience and perform some of the poems he has written. I also discussed including the actual typewriter in the space as it is the main source that holds all my ideas together. I want the overall exhibition to be relatable in the sense that its uncomfortably familiar for some (whether it’s a good or bad experience- this could include a person’s own actions towards others in the past etc) but it portrays the harsh reality of many…..

Some of the questions that I have been asking myself throughout the design process are :

·     Who is the exhibition for ?

·     What do I want the overall message to be ?

·     Who is my target audience?

·     How can I appeal to all, to avoid discrimination ?

·     Will the area be shut off, so that nothing is revealed beforehand?

·     How many people will be able to view the space at once ?

·     How will it be read ? Is there a supporting narrative ? Is someone telling the narrative ? Is it being typed live? Are people just able to go in and have a wonder ?

·     What kind of audio will I need ?

·     Will I have the sound of a typewriter, typing with the bar moving across? Will paper be coming from it ? will it be projected?

·     Will I have any footage played? If so, what content will it include ?

·     How do I want the audience to feel ?