10. Memories from Yonder

1As a little girl, I spent my Saturday afternoons watching my mother, a Guyanese immigrant, crochet hats, scarves, and blankets for my brother, sister, and me. Her fingers would move rhythmically through interlocked loops of colorful yarn amidst the hums and chatter of daytime television. There was an elegance to her poise and movement.

2With her legs crossed and a perfect posture, she moved autonomously, crocheting copious plains of complexed patterns with hook and yarn. After finishing one piece, she would quickly begin another. A huge yawn would bellow out from her after long stretches of time, followed by subtle twists and shifts until she found her next position.

3My mother reminds me of the female genus Argiope: a precocious spider who constructs intricate stabilimentum (silk geometric structures) within the webbing of her orb. Although one might argue the functionality of the Argiope’s labyrinth of webs, it is a rather conspicuous beauty to lay eyes on. Woven into its ornate structure lies a manifold of stories, mystery, and wonder; and like the genus Argiope, my mother’s crocheted masterpieces beguiled me.

4The art of crocheting is a popular recreational activity amongst Guyanese women. The act serves as a prophetic mode of maintaining home and family. On the eve of new life, the women crocheted blankets for the burgeoning mother; pillows and table runners for wives to be; and hats, scarves, and socks for the winter. For most, crocheting is a way of life; an intergenerational activity woven into a myriad of traditions. My great grandmother taught the art of crocheting to her daughters; and my grandmother taught it to my mother. Although I am an avid fan of the process, it is a talent I did not inherit.

5In unspoken dialogues between my mother and myself, Saturday afternoons spent crocheting illuminated the transformative nature of identity. What does the economics of homemaking mean to a first generation American?

Figure 10.1 Christie Neptune, ‘Memories from Yonder’ 2015, diptych of archival inkjet prints.

Figure 10.2 Christie Neptune, ‘Memories from Yonder’ 2015, diptych of archival inkjet prints.

6 In 2015, in an effort to reconcile my Guyanese heritage with my identity as an American, I interviewed elderly female immigrant seniors. During the course of six weeks, I collected personal reflections, life changing experiences, folklores, dreams and recollections that explored the socio-political constructs of identity, ethnicity and self. I asked, what happens when one’s cultural foundations and values have shifted entirely because of a cultural landscape?

7The result of the project was Memories from Yonder, an installation incorporating distorted photography and video, where I digitally weave together the visual narratives of Ebora Calder, a Guyanese immigrant and elder, my mother, and myself, a first-generation Guyanese-American artist. Calder’s recollections set off a memory tape of childhood experiences, which explored the socio-politics of ‘self’ and identity. In her, I saw my mother and generations prior.

8Calder (b. 1925, Georgetown, Guyana) migrated to America, in the late 1950s, in pursuit of the American dream. She worked in homecare before retiring in the Brooklyn Gardens Senior Center. To Calder, America was a ‘strange’ unruly place, which held neither peace, nor order. Her fondest memory in America was crocheting by the window while watching the snow fall. Like my mother, Calder crocheted multiple hats, scarves, and sweaters for children she provided care for.

9In Memories from Yonder, Calder is depicted crocheting a red bundle of yarn. The gesture serves as a symbolic weaving of the two cultural spheres in an effort to reconcile the surmounting pressures of maintaining tradition whilst immersed in an Americanized culture. Like the Argiope’s geometric constructions, Memories from Yonder’s digitally stitched manipulations explore the functionality and aesthetics of a new form.

Figure 10.3 Christie Neptune, video stills from ‘Memories from Yonder’ 2015, video, 4 mins.

Figure 10.4 Installation view of Christie Neptune’s ‘Memories from Yonder’, Photo by Argenis Apolinario. ‘Liminal Space’, curated by Grace Aneiza Ali, Caribbean Cultural Center African Diaspora Institute (New York, NY), 17 June 2017–30 November 2017.