2002-2012 | Gallery M – Inye Wokoma • Artist

An Elegant Utility | Still Life Portraits

An Elegant Utility Object Archive | 2005 – 2012

Speaking of Detours in my creative practice, this is another story of one. I only ever dabbled in still life portraiture. The work in this gallery is my first sustained effort at shooting objects. Unbeknownst to me at the time, this simple act would lead me into an entirely new area of creative practice. Just as I was hitting a wall with my photography, these images would guide the

way to entirely new creative possibilities. They are the genesis of ‘An Elegant Utility’. The first body of work I conceived and developed that was not anchored in photography, ironically began as a photographic meditation. The site specific installation of ‘An Elegant Utility’ had only one photo taken by me. That image was on the promotional flier.

This decision to create this body of images was born out of a need to unlock memories. The act of creating the images was a utility of memory-keeping. The following memoir describes how I went from seeing myself solely as a photographer, to embracing an identity of multi-disciplinary conceptual artist. What started as a tight and winding unexpected path, suddenly opened into a wide thoroughfare.

An Elegant Utility Object Archive | 2005 – 2012

913/915 Garage | 2007

In 2005 I began cleaning out the two-car garage at 913/915 24th Ave, the first home my grandfather purchased in 1947. The house is a two-story duplex unit with a long history of family occupancy. My grandparents rented to family members. grandparents and great grandmother lived there first, then over the course of decades, a long string of aunts, uncles and cousins called it home. Periodically non-family members lived there, but mostly my my grandparents rented to relatives.

I had recently come into ownership of the home. This was the end result of a long and complex series of

negotiations to prevent the imminent sale of the home due to a legal dispute with the guardianship of another elder family member. My first task was to make the property functional for my needs. This meant upgrading it to attract new tenants.

The garage was my grandfather’s workshop and tool shed. Over time other family members began using it for storage as well. By the time it came into my care it was packed front to back with a wild assortment of items with few things stored in any discernible order. If I said I felt like Sysiphous standing at the twin maws of that garage, I wouldn’t be exaggerating.

913/915 Garage Interior | 2007

An Elegant Utility Object Archive | 2005 – 2012

913/915 Garage Interior | 2007

The garage was filled with items representing every aspect of his life since he settled in Seattle. Most items were mundane, utilitarian. There were tools, supplies for plumbing, electrical and carpentry work, keys, lots of keys, rope and chains. Other items were recreational, vintage baseball bats, an old metal and canvas catcher’s mask, a child’s faux wooden rifle. Some items were spiritual, church fans, religious tracts and prayer plaques. There were reliquaries marking community and aspiration, saved issues of Ebony, Jet and Time magazines from the 1960s and 1970s; the cover of each issue bearing an important testimony to the African American struggle, aspiration and perseverance for a better life for our people in America.

As I sorted through the items I realized key parts of my grandfather’s life story could be told through these items. This was happening at the same time that the Central District, as the heart of the black community in Seattle, was rapidly being gentrified. I reflected on the ways my grandfather’s biography connected to our family’s story in Seattle and how our family’s story reflects the larger history of African Americans in this city. Intuitively I knew I needed to begin documenting the objects in photographs. Unsure of what I would do with the photographs I also knew it would be important to keep the actual objects as well.

An Elegant Utility Object Photoshoot | 2005 – 2012

An Elegant Utility Object Archive | 2005 – 2012

When I started cleaning the garage at 913/915 24th Ave I thought it would be a simple purge. Instead it turned into a deliberate effort to sort, photograph and archive objects of all kinds. It took about two and a half years to clear out the garages this way, working mainly during spring and summer on weekends. I put aside all the objects that held meaning. Over the following five years I continued to photograph the items. During that time answers to some of my biggest creative challenges would take root. In 2015 all began to come together as ‘An Elegant Utility’. These images were the detour that would lead out of a rut and guide me to a new identity as an artist.