theresa a anderson

Check out this website on Lorna Simpson:

http://www.thecityreview.com/lsimpson.html

Theresa A. Anderson.  Photographic detail from the veiled installation, Autobiography.  2007.

When I started working in video it was a big gulp, and leap.  Because the work I do is so personal (autobiography), I had the initial idea of reading my amateur poetry while performing with my fabricated plastic veils and curtains.  Working in the dark was helpful.  Darkness releases a lot of inhibitions and it also played with the mood of my piece.  I found that I could play with light to create painterly effects.  

 I had started playing with all the hours of video I had taped.  I was splicing and putting things back together with random intention.  I started to notice a beautiful offshoot of my work as a painter.  What started as a documentary project ended up with its own aesthetic.  A problem for me was that I had never seen anything quite like what I was doing and I wasn't sure how it would be received. 

A turning point for me was attending the screening of Imagining TOBIA, by the artist Salem Mekuria and organized by Dr. Moyosore Okediji, Assistant Curator of African Studies at the DAM. This work is extremely important to the world as well as a turning point for artists.  I know that Dr. Okediji had presented it for purchase to the DAM's board and wasn't confident that he could get the support needed for the price required.  Does anyone know if her work is in the DAM collection?