IMG_2851As most of you already know, Amanda Miner from the class of 2018, died two months ago, on March 16th to be exact. As many of you may not know, she was a very close friend of mine. She was killed in a car accident while celebrating her 21st birthday. I was in Pine Ridge, South Dakota working on an ASB work project when I got the news. I will never forget the moment I got that text message; this is my first experience with loss.

The use of social media websites has changed the way we interact in many ways. It changes how we communicate, how we remember people and places. Me and many of Amanda’s loved ones have turned to social media to grieve her loss and to remember her. It wouldn’t be right exactly to call this performance art per say, but I’ve used snapchat a lot to share memories of her, and to share how she still comes up in my everyday life. It was interesting to see how people have responded to my grief on snapchat, as the two don’t seem compatible or even appropriate. Sometimes the lack of privacy on social media comes back to bite us, but in this case it was actually helpful in getting support for grief, and for supporting others. So here are some of the snaps I’ve shared.

I love pop culture, I love fantasy and mythology, and I love being a woman of color. For my final project, I decided to try and include all of these into one.
This video is an appropriation of Greek mythological characters, celebrities, and #carefreeBlackgirls. I asked my two friends, Mikai and Imani to model as recreated Perseus and Medusa, and I shot them acting out different poses.
Black people and queerness are pretty much absent (or erased) from these stories, so I thought it would be cool to reimagine these characters as Black women.
Myths are more than just fantasy; they often serve as important social commentary. Reimagining people of color and queer people, or other marginalized communities in these stories is a political act in and of itself. There is political significance in Black women being recognized as cultural influences and in Black women being able to express themselves freely.
Here’s the link: https://youtu.be/jo3Z0vcFkYo