Date of Award
Spring 6-1-2024
Document Type
Thesis
Degree Name
Master of Fine Arts (MFA)
Department
Graphic Design
First Advisor
Ramon Tejada
Second Advisor
Africanus Okokon
Third Advisor
Christopher Roberts
Abstract
ASILI is a Swahili word meaning ORIGIN, SOURCE, and ESSENCE. It can also mean the fundamental principal of a culture. It is not cognitive, it is metaphysical.
The work that I do explores the preconceptual, prespatial and pretemporal organization of culture, specifically African culture and even more specifically, Swahili culture.
I use multiple techniques to interpolate a visual voice to an othered people both continental and abroad. I explore the mythoform that connects the mystical and dive into what of it that becomes a practice within Swahili culture. I take experience from my life as a Swahili woman, from the complexity of the language, from the concealed as well as the openly revealed to navigate my process of translating to a visual language, tangibles and artifacts. I delve into rituals, the occult, memory and the incorporation of senses.
I explore the cultural creativity that drives the African, the Swahili, and consequently, the spirit.
Recommended Citation
Abubakar, Husna, "ASILI" (2024). Masters Theses. 1295.
https://digitalcommons.risd.edu/masterstheses/1295
Creative Commons License
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