About The Collection

To preface/start off, this collection does not make any semblance or references that the collection and the models within it inherit some form of "blackness" as a result of utilizing the afterlives of slavery, wakework, and how black flesh is often emblematic of the historical marking of violence. We wanted to make that clear that was never our intention, and rather we seek to produce a conversation that imports these tools developed by these scholars with proper respect and attribution to where these tools and concepts are applied. Such work is important for the existence of analyzing indigo colonialism and something we remain indebted to.

That being said, this collection imports various tools from these scholars and more that uphold traditions of Afro-futurism by way of spirits. Spirits are an important part of worldmaking and the historical analysis (and suturing) of slavery, colonialism, and the afterlives thereof. Spirits can represent the ancestral trace of traditions and culture passed down, the bodies that were physically affected by colonialism and slavery, and the multiplicity of image(s) that find ourselves in the wake of the ship, the reality, the moment that holds us all together in this "eulogy". No one really died, but I think this term makes sense on describing the collection. 

These spirits inhibit each model in distinct ways, though not all make an explicit reference to "blackness." For example, some models embody a tradition of feminism that represent the root cause of violence and domination enacted onto black feminine black bodies that go beyond death; instead a call towards it. Some spirits inhibit each model to tell the story of the shine of indigo that extracted labor-value composition of each body forced to uphold colonial apparatus and the underbelly of the ship. Each spirit that haunts these photos tell a unique story, and can be continuously interpreted into something new in exploring the composition of both shoot locations.

Finally, the land the shoot takes place in deserves in recognition. We (Indigo Collective) recognize the Alabama-Coushatta, Caddo, Carrizo/Comecrudo, Coahuiltecan, Comanche, Kickapoo, Lipan Apache, Tonkawa, Ysleta Del Sur Pueblo, and all the American Indian and Indigenous Peoples and communities who have been or have become a part of these lands and territories in what is now known as Texas. We are also indebted to the spirits that interact in our shoot, graciously allowing us to suture these stories all at once with the mark of the indigo crop. 

More works to look at for inspiration:

• His House 

• The Destroyer 

• An Unkindness of Ghosts

• In the Wake: On Blackness and Being 

~Ammu, Collective Organizer, Sp25