ARTIFACT #0001 (Across seven rivers [sÈt machÈt]) (2023)
Memories age, fade, and distort as new stimuli bring new context. The retelling of oral histories comes with the inevitable risk of memory leaking through the cracks. To fill these gaps, the orator often reinterprets the original and reintroduces a slightly new history into the universe—a history typically more aligned with their own inclusion in time.
My Father was a pathological liar. A language barrier separated my grandmother and I. The urge to understand her developed one of the few bridges of communication between Him and I that I willingly crossed. Through Him, I learned of a memory of his mother which also has begun to fade from my memory. In the story, after encountering an unwelcome guest, His mother pulled out a machete wrapped in a red scarf and exclaimed “My family has crossed the seven rivers. You cannot touch us.” Recognizing the harm that could come to them, the figure then flees. This is the extremely abridged (and possibly only written) version of this story. That statement is my clearest recollection of the anecdote but it’s phrasing could also be affected by translation or misremberance.
When information is only received through one source, that information can easily become your truth; and I believe 3 things to be true.
Voodoo is widely practiced in Haiti and having someone in my bloodline being a high ranking practitioner is not inconceivable.
There are seven rivers in Haiti that drain into the Caribbean Sea therefore topographically seven rivers could be “crossed”
I am protected
Ed.1 of 7 Previously Consigned by Blumka Contemporary
Ed. 2 of 7 Exhibited at Homecoming: Artists Working At Sotheby’s, Sotheby’s, New York, NY
