1
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- [Tau] Keep working on
that for a little bit

2
00:00:02,580 --> 00:00:05,643
and then I'm gonna start on my thing.

3
00:00:11,379 --> 00:00:12,212
Okay.

4
00:00:14,190 --> 00:00:16,560
It's really easy to lose yourself

5
00:00:16,560 --> 00:00:19,277
within the making part of things.

6
00:00:19,277 --> 00:00:22,587
(eccentric effects playing)

7
00:00:25,440 --> 00:00:27,090
- [Camera Assistant] One A take one mark.

8
00:00:32,520 --> 00:00:35,520
- [Assistant] See if it's
right and then I can tweak it.

9
00:00:35,520 --> 00:00:36,353
- [Tau] Yeah.

10
00:00:36,353 --> 00:00:40,350
I have a very deep kind
of interior private life.

11
00:00:40,350 --> 00:00:42,425
I've been that way since I was a child.

12
00:00:42,425 --> 00:00:43,465
♪ Are you okay? ♪

13
00:00:43,465 --> 00:00:46,132
(ambient music)

14
00:00:48,390 --> 00:00:50,247
♪ Sit down ♪

15
00:00:50,247 --> 00:00:53,133
- [Tau] Had a hard time
speaking, intentionally quiet.

16
00:00:54,000 --> 00:00:58,350
And I also really struggled
with communicating

17
00:00:58,350 --> 00:01:00,115
and getting my ideas out.

18
00:01:00,115 --> 00:01:03,532
(ambient woodwind music)

19
00:01:12,060 --> 00:01:16,563
Sculpture has been really
important to that interior self.

20
00:01:17,700 --> 00:01:20,703
- [Assistant] I love it.
It looks really good.

21
00:01:21,810 --> 00:01:23,310
Oh yeah. You did a good job on that.

22
00:01:23,310 --> 00:01:24,990
We're trying to do invisible around--

23
00:01:24,990 --> 00:01:27,210
- [Tau] It's seamless.
Yeah, it's beautiful.

24
00:01:27,210 --> 00:01:28,043
- [Assistant] Yeah.

25
00:01:30,210 --> 00:01:31,860
Sorry, I'm trying to pin this down.

26
00:01:31,860 --> 00:01:33,780
- [Tau] I'm making my own interpretations

27
00:01:33,780 --> 00:01:36,813
of some of the things that I absorb.

28
00:01:38,280 --> 00:01:40,170
The exciting thing about fabric,

29
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when it's not brand new it has
character, it's mysterious.

30
00:01:43,530 --> 00:01:45,441
I love the imperfection

31
00:01:45,441 --> 00:01:48,046
and I love wondering
about their secret lives.

32
00:01:49,800 --> 00:01:52,350
We use every single piece of scrap.

33
00:01:52,350 --> 00:01:53,970
The floor gets swept at the end of the day

34
00:01:53,970 --> 00:01:56,070
but then we collect the little pieces.

35
00:01:56,070 --> 00:01:58,560
When we accumulate enough of them,

36
00:01:58,560 --> 00:02:00,600
make new fabrics out of them.

37
00:02:00,600 --> 00:02:02,310
So each new sculpture has a piece

38
00:02:02,310 --> 00:02:04,173
of an older one embedded in it.

39
00:02:05,190 --> 00:02:08,900
They share shreds of the same
memory and the same truth.

40
00:02:08,900 --> 00:02:12,650
(eccentric percussion music)

41
00:02:13,560 --> 00:02:16,410
I'm specifically interested
in the masks as objects

42
00:02:16,410 --> 00:02:20,430
which are used directly in
the process of communicating

43
00:02:20,430 --> 00:02:24,423
with a spirit or a God
or sometimes an ancestor.

44
00:02:25,320 --> 00:02:28,710
I began looking at Yoruba masks,

45
00:02:28,710 --> 00:02:31,110
ceremonial ritual masks

46
00:02:31,110 --> 00:02:33,780
and thinking about their functions.

47
00:02:33,780 --> 00:02:38,100
The wearer of the mask
comes with a message.

48
00:02:38,100 --> 00:02:39,840
They're able to deliver the message

49
00:02:39,840 --> 00:02:42,640
when the mask is possessing them.

50
00:02:45,047 --> 00:02:47,964
(scissors cutting)

51
00:02:50,319 --> 00:02:53,236
(scissors cutting)

52
00:02:56,388 --> 00:02:59,138
(machine sewing)

53
00:03:06,919 --> 00:03:11,850
(scissors cutting)
(electric piano music)

54
00:03:11,850 --> 00:03:16,000
A lot of Black creation is an upcycling

55
00:03:16,890 --> 00:03:21,303
regardless of a lack thereof,
regardless of an access to.

56
00:03:23,220 --> 00:03:27,810
I would position myself
in the DIY kind of nature,

57
00:03:27,810 --> 00:03:32,202
taking things as they are
and letting them shine.

58
00:03:32,202 --> 00:03:37,202
(electric piano music)
(faint voice messages playing)

59
00:03:45,760 --> 00:03:47,490
There's a sense of calm
when I'm here alone

60
00:03:47,490 --> 00:03:48,750
with the objects as well,

61
00:03:48,750 --> 00:03:52,710
the way that they kind of
preside over the studio.

62
00:03:52,710 --> 00:03:54,457
I feel held by them.

63
00:03:54,457 --> 00:03:58,374
(ambient electric piano music)

64
00:04:00,390 --> 00:04:02,280
During the process of making the artworks,

65
00:04:02,280 --> 00:04:05,010
there's sort of a yearning
feeling that comes off of them.

66
00:04:05,010 --> 00:04:05,843
I don't know.

67
00:04:05,843 --> 00:04:08,223
I would say it's like
a need for recognition.

68
00:04:11,130 --> 00:04:14,910
When you spend so much
time fixated on touching

69
00:04:14,910 --> 00:04:19,890
and handling, sometimes
swaddled in the material even,

70
00:04:19,890 --> 00:04:22,263
you're kind of bonded to it in a way.

71
00:04:27,990 --> 00:04:31,359
And everything I make is
part of this process of

72
00:04:31,359 --> 00:04:34,309
showing them I've heard you

73
00:04:34,309 --> 00:04:38,767
and these are the symbols that
I've made in response to you,

74
00:04:38,767 --> 00:04:40,733
and you're being seen.

75
00:04:44,430 --> 00:04:46,350
The stories are not really new.

76
00:04:46,350 --> 00:04:49,080
They're being interpreted differently.

77
00:04:49,080 --> 00:04:51,150
The materials are not new.

78
00:04:51,150 --> 00:04:52,680
They're now contributing themselves

79
00:04:52,680 --> 00:04:56,212
in a different form and

80
00:04:56,212 --> 00:04:58,475
this is really wonderful.

81
00:04:58,475 --> 00:05:00,834
(ambient electric piano music)