Akeroyd Collection
Works
Shala Miller, Genesis, 2023
![Black and white image of flowy abstract forms with a figure on the right side.](/_next/image?url=https%3A%2F%2Fcdn.sanity.io%2Fimages%2Frp6jt0va%2Fproduction%2Fd2a7eacfaf210929526b6291a9e6a51b4e084772-2400x1350.jpg%3Ffit%3Dmax%26auto%3Dformat&w=3840&q=75)
![Black and white image of ghostly forms, including two outsretched hands.](/_next/image?url=https%3A%2F%2Fcdn.sanity.io%2Fimages%2Frp6jt0va%2Fproduction%2Fb48be3c8da020b917c2516cbcc278645cfa70e92-2400x1350.jpg%3Ffit%3Dmax%26auto%3Dformat&w=3840&q=75)
![Black and white image of flowy forms with face in heavy shadow on left hand side.](/_next/image?url=https%3A%2F%2Fcdn.sanity.io%2Fimages%2Frp6jt0va%2Fproduction%2Fdb7e348e37453a0df14170a13b29c539a0c549a1-2400x1343.jpg%3Ffit%3Dmax%26auto%3Dformat&w=3840&q=75)
![Black and white image mostly in shadow with hands visible on left side.](/_next/image?url=https%3A%2F%2Fcdn.sanity.io%2Fimages%2Frp6jt0va%2Fproduction%2F768348462bfee6a3ca2d37f900709d6689057041-2400x1339.jpg%3Ffit%3Dmax%26auto%3Dformat&w=3840&q=75)
![Black and white image with abstract forms and glowy white light.](/_next/image?url=https%3A%2F%2Fcdn.sanity.io%2Fimages%2Frp6jt0va%2Fproduction%2F3f1021a71b5c672b4c55fb4ca5912851a6b2d40b-2400x1348.jpg%3Ffit%3Dmax%26auto%3Dformat&w=3840&q=75)
![Black and white image with abstract forms and glowy white light.](/_next/image?url=https%3A%2F%2Fcdn.sanity.io%2Fimages%2Frp6jt0va%2Fproduction%2F3f1021a71b5c672b4c55fb4ca5912851a6b2d40b-2400x1348.jpg%3Ffit%3Dmax%26auto%3Dformat&w=3840&q=75)
![Black and white image with face just visible in shadow.](/_next/image?url=https%3A%2F%2Fcdn.sanity.io%2Fimages%2Frp6jt0va%2Fproduction%2Ffdb0f855b41b477d251f114e1e916ff28048f990-2400x1356.jpg%3Ffit%3Dmax%26auto%3Dformat&w=3840&q=75)
![Black and white image of a face close up in shadow.](/_next/image?url=https%3A%2F%2Fcdn.sanity.io%2Fimages%2Frp6jt0va%2Fproduction%2Fed2de7d177dd59c78fcf3dbc4c925e12f64c2a26-2400x1340.jpg%3Ffit%3Dmax%26auto%3Dformat&w=3840&q=75)
![Two screens show faces in black and white in a gallery space with columns in it.](/_next/image?url=https%3A%2F%2Fcdn.sanity.io%2Fimages%2Frp6jt0va%2Fproduction%2F729d60e8efa564771aa2ad0bd0e40c706a3873ad-2400x1600.jpg%3Ffit%3Dmax%26auto%3Dformat&w=3840&q=75)
![Three monochrome projection panels float in a dark room.](/_next/image?url=https%3A%2F%2Fcdn.sanity.io%2Fimages%2Frp6jt0va%2Fproduction%2Fe319c0c396a0d355c6c03ba0b117fa6fc45f711c-2400x1600.jpg%3Ffit%3Dmax%26auto%3Dformat&w=3840&q=75)
![Three monochrome projection panels float equidistantly in a dark room.](/_next/image?url=https%3A%2F%2Fcdn.sanity.io%2Fimages%2Frp6jt0va%2Fproduction%2F3a3176d07190606d6986f41ffaa78ccfb84e978c-2400x1601.jpg%3Ffit%3Dmax%26auto%3Dformat&w=3840&q=75)
![Three monochrome projection panel float in a dark room with columns in it.](/_next/image?url=https%3A%2F%2Fcdn.sanity.io%2Fimages%2Frp6jt0va%2Fproduction%2F52443e378eff2bc6e57763acc2269ffe0a057ec5-2400x1600.jpg%3Ffit%3Dmax%26auto%3Dformat&w=3840&q=75)
Genesis (2023) is an extension of Shala Miller’s yearslong practice of building fictional worlds with an auto-ethnographic critical impulse. Over a duration of nearly one hour, the three-channel video installation creates an immersive environment that positions the film as a soundtrack for a fictional character, Obsidian. Obsidian serves as a proxy for the artist – a kind of alter-ego that Miller created at the beginning of 2023, to process their experience of rage as a Black femme. Each channel, shown on an attendant screen, presents a component part of a larger chorus. Both in terms of sound and image, whereby the harmony and disharmony coalesce into a single work that tells the story of Obsidian’s becoming. In developing the fields of autoethnography, and song, and by drawing on the artist’s years-long practice of creating fictional worlds, this work is a continuation of Miller’s ongoing meditations on desire, mourning, pleasure, and pain in the context of Black experience.
Medium | 3-channel video installation, Digital video (sound, colour) |
Duration | 11 minutes |
Edition | of 3 + 2 APs |