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ashon crawley.
loss. nothing. memorial.

cohort. 2022-2023

project. loss. nothing. memorial.

location. Washington D.C.

medium. audio

Screen Shot 2023-09-22 at 2.40_edited.jp

HOMEGOING” stages a confrontation with grief, shame and silence. It is a means to honor the dead. I have in the past used the architectural method of section drawings as a way to think about how blackqueer people inhabit worlds of antagonism but also how we produce worlds of possibility. Using architectural methods, particularly of sectional drawing, I have expanded my audiovisual arts practice by delving in the visual methods and strategies. 


“loss. nothing. memorial.” is part of this project and funding from the Crossroads Project allowed me resources to purchase a Hammond organ to not only practice musicianship with now-deceased musicians but also to write music for the “HOMEGOING” aspect of the project.

hammond_b3mkii_console_organ_f-1.jpeg

The project stages attempts to confront religious and spiritual violence and how it took shape in the 80s and 90s, targeting blackqueer people with musicians, singers and choir directors as the primary targets of that violence. The queerness of black gospel music is often discussed as a stereotype, and thus circulates as unverifiable. And the sound of the black church changed because of theological convictions, the law and the public health crisis of HIV/AIDs in the 80s and 90s. “loss. nothing. memorial.” is a sonic immersive environment that both honors the density of sonic material musicians that have died provided while also allowing the sonic material to manifest in a visual register. Versions of “loss. nothing. memorial.” were presented at the University of Richmond, April 2022-December 20233; The Art of Black Pride 2nd Annual Exhibition in Houston, TX, May 2-14, 2023; and another was exhibited at New City Arts Initiative in Charlottesville, VA, June 3-29, 2023.

preview.

live.

dance mix.

press.

"The monument spells out the Arabic word 'amin,' which means 'let this prayer be accepted"... When visitors enter the maze, they join the word and the prayer by following the path."

National Public Radio
27 August 2023

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Citation: Crawley, Ashon T. “nothing. loss. memorial." SPIRIT HOUSE: A Crossroads Project. October 2023. Date Accessed. https://www.crossroads-spirithouse.org/crawley.

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