Tag: Baggage Carts

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14C Juried Show!

I’m so excited that my emotional baggage carts were juried into the 14C Juried Show.

During the pandemic I picked up weaving again. I had not weaved since I was a child. To refresh, I took a virtual weaving workshop with Textile Arts Center (NYC) and then fell down a rabbit hole of recommended videos on YouTube University.

In the process of relearning these laten skills, I came face to face with many frustrations and triggers connected to the emotional baggage I have been squirrelling away for years. Guilt, resentment, judgement, colorism, fear, insecurity…

With these works I am exorcising these demons. Sharing these works is both liberating and anxiety inducing at the same time. I am still processing emotionally and artistically.

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Mini Emotional Baggage Carts

If you do not have space for a full size emotional baggage cart, you might try on a mini baggage cart for size instead.

These will be available for sale during JCFriday …

  • Sept 10th, 2021, 6:00-9:00pm
  • 150 Bay Street, PH9 Jersey City NJ
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Getting Rid Of Emotional Baggage

We all carry emotional baggage. This manifests differently for each of us. My Emotional Baggage Carts are vessels to dispose of racial trauma and grant access to grace.

My Emotional Baggage Carts are designed to draw people to look within and recognize and dispose of the emotional baggage they themselves are carrying too.

What emotional baggage are you carrying around that you wish to dispose of?

  • Bottle caps, neon yellow 550 paracord, 200′ neon yellow camo 850 paracord, hollow braided polyurethane rope, solar LED rope lights, recycled Fresh Direct bag and commercial fishing net, zip ties, gold spray paint on recovered shopping cart. Photo by April Tracey
  • Bottle caps, yellow 550 paracord, hollow braided polyurethane rope, solar LED lights, recycled commercial fishing net, zip ties, gold spray paint on recovered shopping cart. Photo by April Tracey
  • I Can’t Breathe, night view
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Mind Over Matter

Being alive means having the capacity to carry past experiences and learn from them. But there is a point when this emotional baggage becomes too much.  Carrying too much emotional baggage can literally stop us from being open to new experiences and growth.

How we choose to handle our baggage makes a difference. We have the choice to let it define us or to let it go and move forward.

With it’s festive pom poms and colorful African print fabric, Mind Over Matter is meant as a reminder that racial bias does not define me. It is a celebration of identity.

Mind Over Matter
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Wide Load

I started calling this cart Wide Load before I was even conscious of how much of my emotional baggage is tied to the food I eat.
Don’t even think of visiting my Mom without her feeding you and taking a plate home. I can still smell , vivid memories of Father punishing me for not finishing my dinner plate and reminding of the starving children in Africa at the same time. A double whammy of eat your food and feel guilty about eating your food. I could go on and on…

Bottle caps, neon yellow 550 paracord, 200′ neon yellow camo 850 paracord, hollow braided polyurethane rope, solar LED rope lights, recycled Fresh Direct bag and commercial fishing net, zip ties, gold spray paint on recovered shopping cart. Photo by April Tracey
Bottle caps, neon yellow 550 paracord, 200′ neon yellow camo 850 paracord, hollow braided polyurethane rope, solar LED rope lights, recycled Fresh Direct bag and commercial fishing net, zip ties, gold spray paint on recovered shopping cart. Photo by April Tracey
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Hiding in Plain Sight

Racial Gaslighting, hides in plain sight in everyday interactions. It subtly shifts dialog from a racist topic at hand onto the accuser – forcing them to question and re-assess their own response to racism, rather than the racism itself.

“You’re being overly dramatic.”

“Are you sure it was about race?”

“I’m sure he/she didn’t mean it like that.”

Intentional or not, these types of comments trigger a spiral of self-doubt and create a convenient way to avoid uncomfortable conversations about race.  

The constant questioning, twisting and undermining of what I know to be true – has had a compound negative affect upon me, manifesting in insomnia, anxiety and hefty amounts of emotional baggage. Through these works, I am exercising these demons.

This exhibition explores implicit biases facing BIPOC communities and the aesthetic armor for protection I have created to shield myself.

The show will be on view in MoCADA’s virtual exhibition hall from May 3, 2021 to July 5, 2021. Viewing link to follow. Sneak peak below…

  • Wide Load
  • Redistricting
  • Porcupine Zip Tie
  • Purple Fiesta
  • Mind Over Matter
  • I Can’t Breathe
  • Caution Baggage Cart
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Emotional Baggage Carts

We all carry emotional baggage. This manifests differently for each of us. Some of us carry shopping carts of pain and bitterness while some of us sport a tote bag. How we choose to handle our baggage makes a difference. We have the choice, to let it define us or to let it go and move forward.

My Baggage Carts are vessels for unresolved emotional baggage related to racial trauma. Each recovered shopping cart is woven with polyurethane rope, solar rope lights, doggie poop bags, plastic bottle caps and zip ties.

Redistricting

March 2021, Bottle Caps, yellow 550 paracord, hollow braided polyurethane rope, recycled commercial fishing net, zip ties, gold spray paint on recovered shopping cart. 36 x 40 x 24 in, 50LBs

Heights Over Springfield

March 2021, Bottle Caps, green 550 paracord, hollow braided polyurethane rope, recycled commercial fishing net, zip ties, gold spray paint on recovered shopping cart. 36 x 40 x 24 in, 50LBs

I Can’t Breathe -CPAC Baggage Cart

February 2021, CPAC Tubing, solar rope lights, gold 550 paracord, zip ties, gold spray paint on recovered shopping cart. 36 x 40 x 24 in, 50LBs