El Amarillo Representa el Oro (2017-2018)

I consider the lack of a monument to slavery in Trinidad and Tobago, and only a calendar holiday, as a commemoration of a precarious position to take, even though my position is anti-monument. My position leans towards education. Telling of the stories and histories of folks who were oppressed. The physical, tangible, and material presence of a monument does not share the relevant information.

In the video work El Amarillo Representa el Oro, I cover myself in raw palm oil and gold glitter on the north coast of Trinidad. I use myself and my body as a temporary monument. I stare towards the sea while the palm oil burns my eyes. The glitter glistens as the sun hits my body. The time in the video is slowed down -3x but the sound of the sea remains in real-time. In the video, I can be seen slowly breathing in and out. In a way similar to the artwork Elizabeth / elizabeth, I use the glitter to represent gold. In the video, I am trying to create an ephemeral monument. El Amarillo Representa el Oro is an intangible monument and only seen once the video is projected.