Activists, Ancestors and Comrades: A Community Altar for Black Lives
During the Summer of 2020, Dream Farm Commons (DFC) hosted a collaborative installation in the form of an altar for Black Lives, created by Asian, Asian American and Black artists based in the Bay Area. In the tall store front windows of the gallery, the Altar served as a physical and communal space for solidarity, a space for grieving and remembering, and a reminder of the future we are fighting for and the lives we must uplift, celebrate and protect.
DFC is located on 15th Street in downtown Oakland, blocks away from Oscar Grant Plaza, a location central to the uprisings that occurred that Summer in Oakland and in the past. We printed printing flyers in different languages to invite community members to bring flowers, photos, candles, mementos, sound bytes, and anything else that will aid in the grieving of what and who we've already lost. As the altar grew, we documented its progress and planned to produce a zine to distribute that didn’t come to fruition.
This installation is not intended to emphasize suffering, but instead to highlight our collective strength, "to help us (re)construct identity and take our dead with us to the various battles we must wage in their names—and in our names" Jose Esteban Muñoz, A Dialogue on Racial Melancholia, [p. 74] (694).
The Altar For Black Lives began with a lighting ceremony featuring a socially distanced, outside, viewing of the films UNIVERSAL EXCHANGE by Yétundé Olagbaju and A Ritual For Metamorphosis by Heesoo Kwon. These films charged the altar with energy and summoned our ancestors to protect this sacred space for remembering, honoring, grieving and celebrating life. You can view the films from the lighting and listen to the sound installation, MILAGROS (IN UNEXPECTED PLACES) by Sherwin Rio that was part of the altar installation on DFC’s website or through the links above.
Photos by John Hill
