Installation by MINQ
13-15. December 2024
Out of the red, clay walls came the women
In droves, connected like a paper doll chain
One after the other
They told me to remember what I am and where I have come from
I saw them. I heard them.
I moved.
I heard Dave,
Dave the Potter
One of many enslaved Africans making pottery in 19th century South Carolina
In a quiet sounding – a quotidian act of resistance, Dave was inscribing the pieces with his poetry and signing his name.
Literacy was illegal for slaves, punishable by beating or mutilation.
I saw him. I heard him.
I moved.
Some of these pots bore faces,
A style believed to have crossed the Atlantic, drawn from the Nkisi figures of Central Africa
The figures allow communication with ancestors and the spiritual world.
Did they inscribe themselves into these pots to anchor a line back to themselves?
I saw them. I heard them.
I moved.
I moved into my own ceramics practice this year, taking inspiration from Dave’s story and the Nkisi figures.
I noticed as I trans-form the clay, the clay trans-forms me
Ideas sprouting, emotion stirring, flowing through my hands
These sculptures speak.
to something, someone, somewhere I haven’t found yet.
But I can feel them.
I didn’t know Dave’s story until recently
I never heard of enslaved Black people making pottery
A piece of the story, my story that has been missing was revealed to me
A call.
I can see myself in Dave. Through his creations and his words.
The magic that was going into his pieces is alive.
I felt it.
Those pieces are alive with magic.
It jumped into me that day
And I heard them speak.
I moved.
Spencer “MINQ” Carter is a sound artist, DJ, performer, radio host, mentor, story teller, trickster and local baddie currently pursuing an MA in Sound Studies and Sonic Arts at UdK Berlin. They are curious about community-building, transformative justice and abolition and are exploring ways to use mindfulness, sound, poetry and sci-fi to create new futures.
Vernissage:
13. December:18:00-22:00
Opening times:
14-15. December: To be announced soon!