Today is Juneteenth National Independence Day, a federal holiday in the US. Historically known as Jubilee Day, Black Independence Day and Emancipation Day, this holiday commemorates the end of slavery in America. No matter where we come from or where we live at the moment, this day should be an opportunity to educate ourselves and question history.
As seen in previous posts dedicated to Juneteenth, art can help us doing so, but also architecture, so, let's move from the latter and in particular from an installation at the 18th International Architecture Exhibition in Venice (until 26th November).
Architect, planner, and educator Toni L. Griffin has presented at the Biennale "Land Narratives: Fantastic Futures" in the Central Pavilion.
With a background in urban design and planning, Griffin leads her transdisciplinary firm, urban American city (urbanAC), and serves as the founder and director of the Just City Lab at Harvard Graduate School of Design. At the university, she holds the position of Professor in Practice of urban planning.
Griffin's project, "Land Narratives: Fantastic Futures," delves into the histories of Chicago's South Side neighborhoods known as the "Black Belt." It acknowledges the immense untapped creative potential that has been stifled for generations due to segregation and vacant lands. By examining these narratives, Griffin sheds light on the profound impact of these neighborhoods and their inhabitants.
Griffin acknowledges the dystopic past that is an integral part of African American history, but her project emphasizes that this narrative is not solely defined by pain. Even within the spaces and bodies that bear the weight of this trauma, there exists a sense of the extraordinary that fuels resilience and creativity. Griffin's installation at the 18th International Architecture Exhibition can therefore be interpreted as a testament to the power of design in addressing historical injustices and envisioning a more inclusive and vibrant future.
The project takes inspiration from the works of the late scholar Richard Iton, particularly his acclaimed book titled "In Search of the Black Fantastic: Politics and Popular Culture in the Post-Civil Rights Era". "Black Fantastic is deliberately provocative; suggestive of something wicked, magical,” reads the foreword to his book, "[The] fantastic serves as a space of the other, both spatially and racially." Like Iton, Griffin employs the concept of "Black Fantastic" to disrupt and fragment the confines of so-called "rational" modernity, employing alternative and unconventional strategies.
To shape her project, Griffin conducted interviews with eight individuals from Chicago. These residents share their recollections of the land as well as their dreams of "fantastic futures" for their neighborhoods.
Prompting her subjects, ranging from 25 to 80 years old, to transcend conventional constraints, Griffin employs the metaphor of the superhero to challenge them in envisioning progressive scenarios for their communities. One manifestation of this "superhero" concept takes the form of a flying figure representing the Jesse White Tumblers, a renowned gymnastics troupe and long-standing institution in Chicago that has served urban youth since 1959.
Griffin's installation employs a combination of collage, mapping, video, audio, and 3D-printed clay vessels to convey the cultural practices, joys, and boundless visions of her subjects. The displayed vessels are arranged in a circular formation on a symbolic plot of vacant land, exposing its latent monetary value and the potential to cultivate Black wealth.
These 3D-printed sound objects contain the voices of each interviewed Chicagoan. The textured patterns on each vessel correspond to the frequency map of their recorded interviews. The shape of each vessel is influenced by the individuals' memories of place and the superpowers they would employ to create spaces characterized by Black joy, empowerment, and fulfillment.
Additionally, mixed media collages of the eight Black Chicagoans are presented. Each of them is pictured with their superpowers: Father Tolliver possesses the ability to alleviate suffering; Rodney can facilitate understanding and connectedness; Janeen has memory and mind reading capabilities; Tim possesses the willpower to heal; Loyal displays super-human strength and flight; Faher can grow food from his hands; Mashaune wields the power of mental persuasion, and Lillie can manipulate climate.
These portraits incorporate imagery such as flyers, butterflies, and hair, each symbolizing distinct meanings. Butterflies allude to the transcendent nature of Black culture, while hair represents the interconnectedness of Black individuals across the Black diaspora. Flyers signify Black resilience, excellence, and ascension in the face of adversity, and the depiction of land emphasizes the prevalence of generational land vacancies in the historic Black Belt neighborhood on Chicago's South Side.
The map included in the installation brings scale to the abundance of vacant land, showing how it can be imagined as Black space and wealth if the eight Black Chicagoans owned and controlled a collective Fantastic Future. The map serves as a means of reclaiming the space within the city that was once restricted to Black Americans, allowing them to not only inhabit but thrive within it.
In this installation narratives of traumas are transformed into narratives of hope as the ownership of land is reclaimed and economic prosperity becomes a tangible reality. In this way, Griffin inspires us all to envision an uplifting future informed by the concept of the "Black fantastic" in which every individual, regardless of their background, can contribute to the creation of vibrant and inclusive environments.
"Land Narratives" serves therefore as a testament to the resilience and creative potential of Black individuals, inspiring a future where a true sense of belonging and pride is accessible to all.
Comments