
Dr Sequoia Barnes
RACE.ED Stuart Hall Foundation Fellow, August - November, 2024
Sequoia Barnes' work is primarily textile art and ceramic sculpture but often involves stitching/embroidery, installation, and assemblage. It is predominately informed by her research-led exploration of black radical art practice which is the creative practice of subverting white supremacy through the (semiotic) deconstruction of black diasporic representation and symbolisms. Her work is also heavily informed by post-structuralist semiotics, and her work is centered around the importance of making processes, rituals, and foregrounding the creation of ‘art’ as equally important as the resulting object.
Project title: Useable Several Times
‘Useable Several Times' is an always ongoing archive-in-progress that utilizes stitching/embroidery and radical materiality to deconstruct the sinister capabilities of cuteness and its ability to propagandize white supremacist ideologies and tropes. It was very common before the late 20th century for a substantial variety of products and goods to feature racist tropes, especially in the United Kingdom and United States. Images of racist tropes were so prevalent at this point in history because they ensured the popularity of a consumable product. These images of brutality became an integral part of the 20th century domestic experience, a strange artifact of the home.