When I think of the unaccounted for, I think about the legacies of the Enslaved Africans of this land. Especially our history of rebellion and power. Throughout my time in school I hardly ever learned about how my ancestors rejected enslavement and chose to highlight this revolt to pinpoint that our ancestors have never accepted slavary or racism as their fate and have always fought and dreamed for better lives outside the confines of whiteness. This piece is a testament to that legacy of rebellion. 

The work is centered around the 1826 revolt organized by 70 or more enslaved people on the Ohio river. The collage is that moment – a moment of power towards the possibility of freedom. As that as my anchor I wanted to incorporate elements of spiritual significance that have also been sites of rebellion and refusals of the status quo. Like the Black church – which carries a lot of our African spiritual technology, the river and our connection to the water and the many spirits thereof, and places of Black experience like the Historical Walnut Street of Louisville, KY.

SIRENE WATA

Sirene Wata is a Hoodoo Devotee by way of the Martin lineage of Cave City, Kentucky.  They are a digital collage artist, whose practice is influenced by their spiritual technology. Sirene seeks to have a conversation with spirit in her Art to find healing, comfort, and wisdom. She uses her artistic practice to make sense of the world around her, both spiritual and physical. She also has a Bachelors of Arts in Pan-African Studies with an emphasis in Gender and Sexuality studies. She is foremost a child of The Mothers and seeks to honor and venerate the divine force in every facet of her life