Chronicle on Choice and Consequence
2022
Video
23 minutes 58 seconds; 5-minute snippet shown above

In 2019, Yrneh Gabon, Artivist & actor, invited me to participate in a group show at the 2020 Dakar Biennale. Excited and eager to exhibit in my first international art fair, I began creating a new live performance work. Then the Covid 19 pandemic happened. In 2022, the biennale was re-opened and the group show was back on. However, in 2021, I became pregnant with my son. Once I became aware of the new dates for the biennale within months of its opening, I had to make a quick decision, “Do I withdraw completely, or do I create a new work in this short period of time?” I realized that I could make a work using a readily accessible medium to convey the love, the doubt, the strength, and the choices that must be made once someone becomes a parent. Chronicle on Choice and Consequence (CCC), an intimate video work, explores the labor of motherhood and of one’s career. CCC reflects on definitions of labor, and how pregnancy, delivery, and childrearing are undervalued. Chronicle on Choice and Consequence contributes to the discourse on improving laws, and societal and cultural perspectives for Labor Rights and Women’s Rights.