DORCHESTER

DORCHESTER

Presented October 18 & 19, 2024

Azia Carle

Play.

Sense.

Joy.

Play. Sense. Joy.

A proud lifelong resident of Dorchester, Azia is a painter and creative spirit who draws inspiration from her community and her family. Coming from a lineage of artists and educators, she credits her vibrant, eccentric style to her Caribbean roots. Azia firmly believes in the transformative power of art to forge community ties, celebrate individual and collective identities, and nurture healing. 

For ILLUMINUS Dorchester, Azia created B. Dot, a multi-sensory celebration of play, memory, and Dorchester. The installation was designed to instill a sense of belonging and remind the neighborhood of the joy of communal fun.

Large scale projection mapping transformed the exterior of the old tire shop into a canvas for Azia’s animations. Inside, visitors were invited to sniff different scents that capture memories of fun that were all created by Dorchester community members. Also on display was B. Dot, a Dorchester-inspired perfume developed by Azia and Boston Perfumery.

Visitors were able to see the neighborhood through Azia’s eyes by stepping into the sight installation and becoming surrounded visitors with images and videos of Dorchester curated by the artist.

Azia believes that Dorchester needs some comfort, so created soft giant hand sculptures to be embraced by.

Elemental.

Nostalgia.

Healing.

Elemental. Nostalgia. Healing.

Makeda Wallace

Makeda Wallace is one of Boston’s most decorated movement artists. As a first generation Caribbean American, Makeda’s predominant styles of dance and choreography are Hip Hop and Dancehall. Mom of two, Makeda aims to be an example for the next generation to pursue their passion with fire, courage, and unwavering self confidence.

Makeda’s piece for ILLUMINUS Dorchester was an immersive performance and interactive installation space entitled In-Tuned. The piece was grounded in the four elements: fire, water, air, earth. Through this work Makeda explored how connecting to elemental power can bring personal healing.

Visitors were encouraged to explore the space on their own and encounter interactive projections that allowed them to manipulate the elements. These visuals were developed in collaboration with programmer Andrew Hlynsky.

Makeda called on her diverse creative talent for this project, including choreography, spoken word, and fashion design. She added to her repertoire of skills while developing this project by training in aerial arts at Commonwealth Circus Center.

In-Tuned draws on themes of home and healing. Grounding elements from Makeda's childhood like head wrapping and double dutch are incorporated into the performance. The soundtrack was produced by Malik Williams and is a sonic mix ranging from R&B, hiphop, soul, afro Caribbean, and Orchestra vibes narrating the four elements.

Other collaborators included dancers Carmina, Alanna, Erla “Air, Milly AKA 3R, and models Mckhelen Alcindor, Christian Denny, Carven Bernadeau, and Patrice Miller.

PeeJay Clarke

History.

Identity.

Fantasy.

History. Identity. Fantasy.

PeeJay Clarke is a storyteller, educator, performer, musician, and dad. He has been a kindergarten and second grade teacher in Boston for decades, he leads games of Dungeons and Dragons, and Live Action Role Plays. PeeJay is passionate about history, fantasy, and representation.

PeeJay’s installation brought an immersive Afrofuturist fantasy landscape to Dorchester. It was inspired by African history, including the real adventures of Ibn Batuta and Balla Fasséké, and embellished with imagination and magic.

Visitors encountered an exhibition of objects taken from the storylines of PeeJay’s role playing game quests. Beyond the exhibition, visitors entered a space reminiscent of a covered market where they could join this fantasy realm by creating their own artifacts. PeeJay presented stations for constructing swords and shields which could then be used to challenge other visitors and write their own stories.

Sam Lê Shave

Pain.

Love.

Transcendence.

Pain. Love. Transcendence.

A cross-disciplinary artist, Sam works in paint, crochet, textiles, fashion, and tattoo. She cares deeply about community mental health and preserving traditional textile skills like embroidery. Sam was born and raised in Dorchester, and finds much inspiration from her mom and her Vietnamese heritage.

Sam’s piece for ILLUMINUS Dorchester was entitled LOVE FATALITY and CONFIDENCE: Reclaiming Our Pain What it Means to Cultivate Love. The installation was a reflection on the pain we carry, the joy that can be reclaimed in our pain, and the value of love. How can we harness and curate what love can look like in our lives?

Through this work, Sam explored how generational pain is passed from person to person, and how these forces affect us not only as individuals, but as a community.

Elements of the installation included custom reflective breeze block walls, painted, embroidered, and projection mapped fabric panels, and life-sized dolls of various materials.

Breeze block walls are often used in Vietnamese architecture as they allow air to flow through spaces. Here they were used as a metaphor for mindful breathing; what are we allowing into our space and what are we letting go of for ourselves and future generations? Some of the blocks contained inscriptions of affirmations and anti-affirmations added by Dorchester community members.

Sam hand stitched and painted four large fabric panels with personal mantras, family members’ likenesses, and other elements from the artist’s relationship with pain and love. The panels were projected through with family photographs and other visuals.

The dolls represented the embodiment of the themes of anger, sadness, frustration, joy, and love. Two dolls resembled rice paper, commonly used in Vietnamese cooking. One doll was covered in votive paper, which is used to send offerings to ancestors. What healing would you offer your ancestors? Two of the dolls were covered in embroideries stitched by Dorchester community members over the course of the last year. Their contributions are responses to prompts from Sam around their personal experiences with pain, love, and healing.

DORCHESTER CURATORS