New Materialism: Reading Response #6

During my time in Greensboro, NC., I “found” a mannequin that quickly became my friend and healing spirit. I place “found” in quotations because I truly believe it was more a matter of divine connection and magnetism than a simple ‘stumble upon’ that is generally associated with the word “found.” Before I dive into my relationship with I-Sis, the name of my (wo)mannequin, let me share a quote that lends academic credibility to a spiritual connection that is difficult to capture in words:
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“Thing-power gestures toward the strange ability of ordinary, man-made items to exceed their status as objects and to manifest traces of independence or aliveness, constituting the outside of our own experience. I look at how found objects can become vibrant things with a certain effectivity of their own, a perhaps small but irreducible degree of independence from the words, images, and feelings they provoke in us. I present this as a liveliness intrinsic to the materiality of the thing formerly known as an object.” (Bennet, 2010, p. xvi)
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Photo credit: Jordan T. Robinson

The Date: Week of 9/13/2021

Without knowing the exact day, I do remember the exact moment I met I-Sis.

​While looking through the vintage clothing, for our Residency #109 photoshoot, I found something sticking out of the VERY back corner. It was buried under a pile of clothes but the energy of this “object” could not be hidden. After removing the pile of shirts, coats, and dresses, I saw her. She was black. She was naked. She was beautiful. And, she deserved so much better than this - an afterthought to be discarded an buried as something insignificant.

​I brought her back to my room and sat her in the chair next to the window. During the rest of my residency, I watched her watch the sunrise and I escorted her to the fire escape so we could watch the sunset. Just like Bennet pointed out, I-Sis “manifested traces of independence and aliveness.”

While personally dealing with inclusionary isolation during my residency, her presence represented companionship; the kind of companionship that created spaces of healing and divine knowing.
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The Name: I-Sis

To pay homage to the Egyptian Goddess Isis, I named her I-Sis.

The primary powers attributed to the Goddess, healing, protection, and magic, were also experienced whenever I was in the presence of this (wo)mannequin. I intentionally changed the spelling of her name to represent the individual and collective experiences of self-restoration and healing that I wish for Black womxn across the nation.

I and Sister = I-Sis.

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Closing with Bennet

After reading about new materialism, I now have academic language to support my experiences with I-Sis. I also have a foundation in which to promote such experiences when communing with Mother Earth. Additionally, while exploring my research question, “how is nature experienced as a site of learning and self-restoration among Black womxn,” I can also pull from literature that supports the power of the more than humankind.

Now, I fully acknowledge that my relationship with I-Sis did not solve the problems associated with inclusionary isolation, but they did make them more bearable. Just as Bennet wrote, “Such a newfound attentiveness to matter and its powers will not solve the problem of human exploitation or oppression.” When operating in this space, I will be mindful to point this out to other Black womxn. It’s just nice to have an alternative way of knowing and being. THIS is one of the permissions that is lacking in the Black community.