artistsresolve

[artistsresolve]

Undoing, by Diane Jacobs and Turtle Island, by Kamala Sankaram

This project is a collaboration between Kamala Sankaram (composer/performer based in New York City who is part of an operatic Bollywood surf-noir band called Bombay Rickey  and Diane Jacobs (Visual artist based in Portland, OR) over the course of 15 months.  Kamala made a powerful video/sound piece Turtle Island from images taken while Diane was making Undoing.

Undoing by Diane Jacobs.

I began my exploration of decolonizing the United States by drawing a map of the USA today. I inscribed Native nations, Hawaiian names for each state, demarcated original buffalo range, the slaughter, and stolen land. I erased borders, color-coded states according to the number of lynching; hand wrote testimonies by enslaved Africans over the states that sanctioned slavery. White washed everything with gesso and stenciled TURTLE ISLAND in graphite. I collaged paper to indicate felony disenfranchisement restrictions by state and stamped my fingerprints to indicate the number of prisoners incarcerated in that state.

Turtle Island by Kamala Sankaram.

The musical soundscape for Turtle Island was created in direct response to the development of the map images for Undoing. As the process of colonization transformed the natural landscape of the United States, the sound world similarly shifts from one of natural sounds to the sounds of industry. The soundscape begins with field recordings of insects, birds, and ocean waves. Gradually, these sounds are replaced by drones and percussion constructed from samples of industrial machines and drones from electric lights, radiators, and fans. The soundscape concludes with samples from shortwave numbers stations- radio broadcasts of unknown origin thought to be associated with government spycraft.

link to video:https://vimeo.com/268424677

Images of Undoing, by Diane Jacobs: 75” W x 60” H, 2017, paper, pencil, ink, graphite, gesso, acrylic paint, India ink, and fingerprints

[artistsresolve]

Collaborators:  Tanya Gill and Shelly Oria

Collaboration:  Shared Horizon by Tanya Gill                          Redirect by Shelly Oria in response to Gill’s Shared Horizon

[artistsresolve]

Collaborators: Tanya Gill and Shelly Oria

Collaboration: But We will Win, Shelly Oria                        Sometimes There Are No Silver Linings, Tanya Gill                        in response to Shelly Oria’s But We Will Win

[artistsresolve]

Collaborators: Chloe Yelena Miller and Cheryl Moskowitz

Collaboration: Cracking the Spectrum

[artistsresolve]

Collaborators: Todd Robinson and Jennie Panchy

Collaboration: Superpatriot and Night Fruit

[artistsresolve]

Collaborators: Phyllis Ewen and Kimberly Dark

Collaboration: Phyllis Ewen’s beauty insignificant 2, beauty insignificant 3 in response to Kimberly Dark’s Untitled

[artistsresolve]

Collaborators Gabriel Don and Andrew Betancourt

[artistsresolve]

Collaborators: Vivian Wagner and Logan Brennan

Collaboration: Two Journals

[artistsresolve]

Artists ReSolve addresses the divisions intensifying in the United States and brought into focus by the recent presidential election. The site gives artists-- writers, dancers, visual artists, performers, composers, etc.-- a platform to connect and collaborate in response to the current environment. Working with another person through a creative process can spark curiosity, critique, and new re_solutions towards a common good.