my dresser is an altar ft. you can do anything you set your mind to (ongoing)
My dresser is an altar is a photo series with an accompanying poem that sets You can do anything you set your mind to in context. You can do anything you set your mind to is a ceramic vase made to call near Afrofutures into being, the piece itself being an exercise of making real a reality that was not present (or even believed to be possible). Through this piece and photo series the artist continues their work that began with A Portal to the Free State (2025), where the artist asked viewers to envision a Free State. In this piece the artist enacts a link between imagination, visualization, and physical reality through the concept of setting. My dresser is an altar explores this concept of setting and reveals a roadmap to bring about near Afro-futures. We have to seek empowerment from our histories, surroundings, and our dreams; coupled with a deep inner conviction of our capability, to project ourselves into the near future of our dreams.
The artist was asked: how can a vase be Afrofuturistic? The artist answers: when it’s been made by Black hands, how can it not?
Work description:
My dresser is an altar is a 3 part photo series. From left to right, You can do anything you set your mind to by artist, Missionary Position II (1985) by Sonia Boyce, The Sitter (2002) by Barbara Walker, photograph of my mother, Pamela Logan and her mother, Cleo Bowden (photographer unknown), Big Mama’s chair by artist, a portal charm, my mother’s copy of Parable of the Sower by Octavia Butler, bell hook’s all about love, a flower jar, and spiral plate with pressed flowers, “My dresser is an altar” (poem, shown unfinished).
My dresser is an altar
I make my dresser an altar
even though I’ve never done so before
Who’s to say I do not worship?
that I do not gratify or set my hopes down somewhere
Today I set my hopes down on top of my dresser
I set my hopes down on my dresser because I want something
I build my altar on my dresser because I want something
though I can’t say precisely what
But I can imagine
so I do
What do you imagine?
I imagine the feeling
the feeling of knowing you are loved
stretching far and wide
I imagine systems of care
systems so malleable, and thorough that no one falls through the cracks
I imagine necessary violence
and things burning and being destroyed
And then being rebuilt and growing
I bring my hopes down onto my dresser because I want something
I make my imagination real on my dresser because I want something
What does my altar need?
my altar needs a mirror, a work in progress, a connection to home (evidence of the continuum), and an artifact of the ‘future’ self
Who is my ‘future’ self?
this person is not different from me, we are one self and we will make ourselves known to each other
I make my dresser an altar because I want something
I want to know something
I want to know, is it true?
can You do anything you set your mind to?
So I ask myself, I look in the mirror
is it true?
video forthcoming...