Ancestral Reclamation Antenna
Project Statement
This piece is an excavation and preservation of the past as a means to connect with the artist's ancestry and imagine new modes of communication. Through materials found, kept, transformed, and created, Adia tells the story of her matrilineal connections, which were severed, like those of many other Black people, by colonization and chattel slavery. Combining textiles, carpentry, china, vintage tools of domesticity, and other found objects with family relics, the sculpture acts as both altar and beacon; a satellite radio with which Adia can reach her ancestors living beyond the veil. The personal relics–family photographs, dentures, glasses, jewelry, and clothing–act as touchstones, allowing the artist to sense the nearness of the generations of women that came before her; ancestors who were taken from their homes and sent through the Middle Passage to the Caribbean. The weathered aesthetic highlights the history and use of both organic and manufactured materials, which are conditioned to look eroded by time and overtaken by nature; erosion and decay being timestamps of life. There is a methodical pleasure Adia takes in the process of corroding these materials. The act of rusting metal, aging wood, staining lace with tea, and adhering old family sepia photographs onto delicate china plates or old apothecary bottles makes her feel more deeply connected to history. The inspiration from found objects serves not only as a springboard for dialogue and connection with the audience but also for deeper material and historical research that allows Adia to heal the familial connections she has been missing. This is the gift of the symbiotic process between her making and the finished piece.
Artist Bio
Adia Gibbs is a timekeeper of ethereal memories whose illustrative assemblages reflect her longing to connect with her ancestors. A consummate forager of old things, sometimes Adia will sense the energy within an object and will collect it even if she hasn't discovered its purpose yet. A transplant from New York City, Adia has been living and making artwork in Portland, OR for several years. She received her BFA from Parsons School of Design and is currently a candidate for the MFA in Visual Studies degree at PNCA. Recently, Adia was selected for the Glean Artist in Residency Program. She has previously been awarded the Drinking Gourd Fellowship and a grant from the Oregon Arts Commission. Her work has been shown at Parallax Art Center, Oregon Contemporary, the Newark Cultural Arts Center, and the Sheila C. Johnson Design Center in NYC, and in a mural at Micro Enterprise Services of Oregon (MESO).
