SPEAK CHILE-- A Formal Introduction By: James Balo
The 3-chapter video SPEAK CHILE documents a performance and fashion show and creates a safe space for the exploration of Black queer love and family histories.
Titled in homage to the distinct blend of Haitian Creole and Jamaican Patois that was spoken in my household growing up, the work is a tribute to my younger sisters and grandmother. The performance and subsequent video emphasize and visualize my cultural legacy at risk of being lost with the passing of my grandmother, the family matriarch. I emblazoned these jackets, dresses, and coats worn by the models with my own textile designs, each of which contain images of my family along with intricate hand-beading.
In Act I: EPIS platforms, the characters are introduced and the ingredients for the meal are presented.
In Act II: Talking SHET the characters gather in the kitchen, gossiping and modeling their clothing.
In Act III: MANJE TIMOUN, the characters parade their clothes on a grand vogueing runway and gather for a celebratory feast.
SPEAK CHILE In the before existed to discover ways to depict the way Black vernacular moved in a world where it didn’t have a home.
SPEAK CHILE in the after–
In the now exists as an ode to all the Black children known before and after
To make a home of their own
To feel the home that we are making on this earth beneath ten toes
for us to breathe,
Hard//
and so much of
To make rooms out of this home we made
This home we felt on this earth– planted under ten toes
Breathing
to show that we can
Breathe.
We can breathe hard
And we can still make homes for our stories to breathe
for our stories to plant and sing
for all of our children known to us,
The children before us
and all of the children after,
who want to breathe and feel the homes they can make on this earth and beyond.
SPEAK CHILE exists in the after so we have something pretty to look at.
SPEAK CHILE tells stories so we always have something to say.
SPEAK CHILE exists so we have something that is ours, something that is love.
Another ode to love stories.
SPEAK CHILE--BTS
