YVONNE SHORTT
African American Marbleization: An Act of Civil Disobedience
About
The pieces I create come from what I'm feeling living as an African American woman in my community. The pieces question privilege, disability, race, equality. My current series African American Marbleization: An Act of Civil Disobedience is about celebrating people of color, our culture, and the objects we use. The pieces are either fired in a kiln to create porcelain or cast in marble dust. Sometimes I incorporate other materials such as wood or steel. The clay I use is sometimes harvested from creeks in my community and fired in a pit. I’m interested in texture, tactility, and process. There are three components to my current series: objects, fragments, and architectural structure.
Fragments
Fragments: These pieces are sculpted in clay then cast in marble dust. The pieces are then chiseled away to have a fragmented look. The fragments are often installed in spaces where I experienced micro/macro aggressions. The pieces are accompanied by a sign naming the aggression in hopes of educating the community and as a source of healing for myself.
Objects
Objects: Objects I research objects of my past then use my present to inform their structure. Objects may include a head from a fallen tree in a community where there were secret contracts saying 'no blacks, no jews' , afro picks, girls doing things specific to my culture, or other objects of the African diaspora that I’m interested in exploring. These objects may be found in over 40 spaces around he country
Structures
Architectural Sculpture: Sol Lewitt sometimes used cement blocks and instruction sets in his work. These aspects have inspired my process. In addition, I am also exploring the physicality of the labor involved in the overall process. In communities of color these blocks often denote blight or decay. I’m interested in taking these objects and reimagining their possibilities in a collaborative way. I investigate with architects, industrial designers, and other artists.
