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UNIFORM
Collection:CSM Museum & Study Collection
Date: May 2021
Designer: Francesca Lake
Medium: Acrylic beads and fishing wire
Object number: FA.2021.59.CC.1-2
DescriptionBeaded headpiece and video.
Description by artist:
The beaded head piece is a part of the UNIFORM project created as a representation of the School Uniform as a means of Protection from the Classist reality that exists with in Kingston, Jamaica.
By placing everyone on a level playing field, void of judgement and categorization based on tangible and material wealth, the richness of this project is found within the quality of individual persona and character and not based on external constructs of affluence.
The overarching study looks on themes of protection and cocooning of the body, taking the concept of protective hairstyles of the black body to form the headpiece out of hair beads or “bubbles” traditionally used on young girls within the black community to adorn their hair.
The use of the hair “bubble” is chosen as a means to both amplify the notion of protection and also celebrate the crown and head upon which the beads adorn.
The video opens with audio from an interview on the concept of richness as a material construct and is followed by images of an imbalanced scale, used a representation of
the societal imbalance.
Spoken word written and executed by myself traverses images of Jamaican school uniforms, garments made for this project and ends with the scene of the school uniforms and gingham fabric on a clothesline filmed in Kingston, Jamaica. Ending in question “what is real richness and what really makes a (hu)man?”
Description by artist:
The beaded head piece is a part of the UNIFORM project created as a representation of the School Uniform as a means of Protection from the Classist reality that exists with in Kingston, Jamaica.
By placing everyone on a level playing field, void of judgement and categorization based on tangible and material wealth, the richness of this project is found within the quality of individual persona and character and not based on external constructs of affluence.
The overarching study looks on themes of protection and cocooning of the body, taking the concept of protective hairstyles of the black body to form the headpiece out of hair beads or “bubbles” traditionally used on young girls within the black community to adorn their hair.
The use of the hair “bubble” is chosen as a means to both amplify the notion of protection and also celebrate the crown and head upon which the beads adorn.
The video opens with audio from an interview on the concept of richness as a material construct and is followed by images of an imbalanced scale, used a representation of
the societal imbalance.
Spoken word written and executed by myself traverses images of Jamaican school uniforms, garments made for this project and ends with the scene of the school uniforms and gingham fabric on a clothesline filmed in Kingston, Jamaica. Ending in question “what is real richness and what really makes a (hu)man?”