PANTÉON PROJECT
Image as decoy is a practice that is still seen around the world today.
Mining historical and cross-cultural references, the Pantéon series reenact both religious and historical narratives as African-American he/sheroes are cast as the various Spirits/Gods of African derived religions of the Caribbean such as Vodou and Santeria. As these religions were historically banned and had to go “underground” both in colonial and post-colonial societies, mass-produced images of saints were used as a decoy to represent the various Gods. The practice persists to this day in the Caribbean and its diaspora, where people still pin some of these images in their house. The decision of using archival digital print as a medium was a natural one, given that these are images that are to be disseminated and can lend themselves to be of everyday use.
The images are printed in an edition of three 24” x 36” prints and an edition of twenty one 18.5” x 28” prints, both printed at Coronado Print Studio.
Mining historical and cross-cultural references, the Pantéon series reenact both religious and historical narratives as African-American he/sheroes are cast as the various Spirits/Gods of African derived religions of the Caribbean such as Vodou and Santeria. As these religions were historically banned and had to go “underground” both in colonial and post-colonial societies, mass-produced images of saints were used as a decoy to represent the various Gods. The practice persists to this day in the Caribbean and its diaspora, where people still pin some of these images in their house. The decision of using archival digital print as a medium was a natural one, given that these are images that are to be disseminated and can lend themselves to be of everyday use.
The images are printed in an edition of three 24” x 36” prints and an edition of twenty one 18.5” x 28” prints, both printed at Coronado Print Studio.
