the work of devotion, and soon my whole body pulls language from two separate poetic works from prolific writer Alice Walker, Desire and Can It Be?, to offer a unique look into zakkiyyah najeebah dumas-o’neal’s own Black femme embodiment through the lens and gaze of Black lesbian and queer selfhood, domesticity, desire, and intimacy. Much like the generated title alludes to, she composes and pulls selected photographic images spanning five years, a video montage, and audio to suggest the ways memory, being, and the mundane are informed by experiences of transience, embodiment, love, and acts of retreating.
the work of devotion, and soon my whole body is reflective of the artist’s ongoing quest to utilize deeply personal interventions to encourage ways of being and feeling that reach beyond the systems and conditions imposed upon us – wholly embracing strategies of nonlinearity and poetics, to arrive closer to autonomy and oneness.
the work of devotion and, soon my whole body. Image courtesy: Kylee Isom. Washington University. 2024.
“the traditional salutatory of lovers”, Manonia and Donna. 2min, 13sec. Looped. Appropriated photographic image, digital video. single channel. Looped.16:9 aspect ratio. Image courtesy: Kylee Isom. Washington University. 2024.
the work of devotion and, soon my whole body. Image courtesy: Kylee Isom, Washington University. 2024.
Repurposed Audio. 1 minute, 48 seconds. Looped. 2024. As Part of the work of devotion and, soon my whole body at Weitman Gallery, Washington University. 2024.