2021

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Mixed media installation



Exhibition History:

2021, Home Bodies | UMBC IMDA Thesis Exhibition, Center for Art, Design and Visual Culture (CADVC), Baltimore, MD

The Arabic word  الحمدلله means “Praise be to God,” the phrase used to describe a day in the life of Yarrow Mamout post- enslavement, signifying the importance of Arabic literacy to Black Muslims in the U.S. This artwork posits repetition in prayer as a method of counter-memory and builds a multi- generational narrative, linking Prophet Muhammad (green velvet banner with gold accenting), Yarrow Mamout (disjointed brick lettering), and me (relief printing directly onto the wall).

This artwork is the second iteration of the relief print Yarrow Mamout "Singing Praises to God" (2020). I continue to work in his memory, using his ability to speak and write in Arabic and the fact that he remained a Muslim throughout 44 years of enslavement to show his direct engagement with counter-memory.


Read more about Mamout in my written thesis, From Counter-Memory To Counter-Culture: Black Islam in the U.S. Through a Mundane Afrofuturist Lens.

This artwork is based on Yarrow Mamout "Singing Praises to God" (2020), a relief print. Learn more about Mamout in my Smithsoninan Claiming Space symposium video here.