Self-reflection and shared roots: Lobby installation from BAYOU BAY
Photos from Lauren B. Photography
Our Jungle lobby has been transformed with a collection of colorful mirrors and engagement prompts by local artist BAYOU.
Their installation encourages REDWOOD audiences to reflect on the play as well as their own ancestral roots. Interactive prompts allow for participant to bring a bit of themselves to the piece.
FROM THE AUDIENCES
Patrons were able to bring their own experiences to the art by interacting with a number of thoughtful prompts:
what do your roots, branches, leaves, flowers, fruit, seeds share out for healing
what has this play brought up for you that you can not turn away from
what do your roots, branches, leaves, flowers, fruit, seeds take in for healing
in what ways have your ancestars been roots for you
Thank you to all who participated in this interactive installation by sharing a piece of themselves.
They teach me about adapting in order to survive + create something better for posterity
Love will see us through
PLANTS
To truth from Africa to here, all must learn
I’m so crazy about you
Polish, Ukrainian, German
Army kid
Intergenerational trauma healing somatic + in community
Love acceptance + perseverance
The people you least expect can help the most
I’m Black BA
Why so much fear?
Because we’re black dummy
Beautiful diversity
Do not understand
Next show should be called “Here Again” from: Vivian
Care & nurturing…a planting place for dreams
Heart love made & born Black & full of love
Amen chants like windchimes
Spirit songs singing
Love is love MN-NYC
Love family recovery
Serians radical humanitarian
Vulnerability
Prancing bohemians
97% British Isles + Northern European, 1.3% Sub-Saharan African, 1.7% ? Love
A willingness to admit when I’m wrong
Can’t we all just get along
Secrets revealed
Happy
There is enough for everyone
I wish ☹
How can we forget we are all interrelated
Louisiana-Creole, East Texas, Father of the Playwright!
Love light sunshine smiles
Kindness sharing support love
Just yelling (at nothingness)
Hopefully joy, connection, light, hope, calm/peace
History is the past the future starts now!!
Be kind to everyone
Radical love is love
We have been fighting the same fights for a long time
History
How can we heal? Together?
Morals
Kitties books + gardens
“If you ever feel broken, know that I am a little bit why” – carrying our mothers’ sadness
At 70 years old I found I had two brothers and two sisters
Love and honesty maybe isn’t enough?
160+ years and still no reconciliation
Truth
Ambiguity
Family complications
Not knowing my ancestry. It’s very sad , yet inspiring
The past is a forest. Find a path. Inhale. Exhale.
The truth of U.S.
I need to learn my heritage. My ancestry has so many unknown layers.
“If it were up to me, none of you would be here”
I am alone
As an adoptee, I do not know and I may never know my biological roots, and yet they’re somewhere out there.
Fear/pain, need love & real understanding
Jingdezhen
Connection is everywhere
The complexities of the varying reactions
The consequences of “moving on”
We can appreciate us…and enjoy
Homemade spaghetti sauce
Friends, sunlight, words, song
I wish I could know my black ancestors
White fragility
Being human is carrying pain, joy, & hope & love. We are one.
Love is light
Guilt will always exist but the forgiveness is needed between the world and me – Coates
Face the truth in history
Listening
Love is always. Always the answer.
Mom – Italian. Dad – Czech
Relationship & connection
Love is all there is
Literature! Yes!!
The quiet of nature
Tea, kindness, warmth, calm, softness
New perspectives and food for nourishment
The universe wants you to EXIST!
Weed smoke
Small moments with people who care about me
Water ocean
Yes. ^
Heritage food made with love
Love from friends
Kindness, snuggles, art
Kindness, sharing, support, love
Music
YES!
Poetry
Graphic novels
They inspire my hunger to know myself much more deeply, through out lineage.
Intricate wisdom.
They teach me about the power of cycles that get passed down + help me to do my part to break them.
Working the land.
Family recipes
Stories passed down
Through dance
Family names passed down
Music folklore + connection to food + ancestry
Wrestling
Irish love of stories + song!
A sense of community
It all feels impossibly important and far away. I feel a part of it.
Connection to culture
Stories from my grandparents of their youth
My nose
My ancestors didn’t have the luxury of self-reflection or evaluation, they were busy surviving! May I honor them by loving my living relatives. May the Jewish Diaspora grow + thrive
I learned a lesson of honesty from my dad in this very building in the 60’s
ABOUT THE ARTIST:
Bayou is a Twin Cities based artist and designer born in St. Paul on the occupied lands of the Dakota & Anishinaabe peoples. Bayou creates mixed-media art called Affirmation Mirrors composed mostly of fabric wrapped wood, yarn, mirrors, and beads. He also creates murals, art installations, digital illustrations, digital and print materials for artists and organizations, woodwork, and works as a teaching artist.
Bayou’s art and design embody themes of nature from the micro to the cosmic, black and collective liberation, healing trauma, time, portals, geometry, setting intentions for affirmations, asking questions, symbols, and identity exploration. Water is an especially strong theme in the work as HaHa Wakpa (the Mississippi River) has been a major influence in many levels of Bayou’s life.
Bayou is 1/3rd of the Studio Thalo artist collective, a member of the Million Artist Movement artist cooperative, and a collaborating muralist with the Creatives After Curfew mural collective.