Arkadius Armando- BA (Hons) Fine Art
Till Death Do Us Part
An enigmatic sculptural installation examining the untimely death of Black literature and identity through the intersecting realities of social injustice, power, memory, loss, and racialised histories. Through lived experience, the work investigates the social and political systems that continue to displace and dishonour the Black diaspora. It reflects on the growing disconnection between institutional power and the communities affected by political decision-making in both the United States and the United Kingdom.
Accompanied by an elegiac eulogy and symphonic choral music, the installation establishes an immersive memorial atmosphere that addresses the systemic suppression of Black intellectualism through political and institutional control, particularly through the removal and restriction of Black academic material within education. The work reflects upon the continued erasure, silencing, and marginalisation of Black voices, histories, and intellectual contributions.
Constructed from recycled wood, clay, black paint, white satin, and protruding spikes, the sculpture moves away from conventional definitions of the coffin and instead presents itself in an abstract and fragmented form. Resting upon white satin, the structure lays to rest scattered banned books from Black academia, submerged within the sculpture and wrapped in black paper, symbolising the ceremonial structures of funerary practices and memorial services.
The integration of sound, poetry, and sculpture completes the installation through three musical compositions that reflect the emotional process of death: grief, remembrance, and celebration. Together, these elements amplify the emotional arc of the work, transforming the space into an immersive memorial environment.
Music
Lord, How Come Me Here by Anonymous — Kathleen Battle, Hubert Laws, Members of Metropolitan Opera Chorus & Robert De Cormier
Precious Lord, Take My Hand by Thomas A. Dorsey, ValLimar Jansen and Derek Cambell
Give Us Peace by Roberts’ Revival & Leon C. Roberts
Banned Books: UK
Becoming by Michelle Obama (UK)
The Black Flamingo by Dean Atta (UK)
We Should All Be Feminists by Chimamanda Ngozi Adiche (UK)
Banned Books: US
Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison
The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas
Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston
Black Boy: A Record of Childhood and Youth by Richard Wright
The Bluest Eyes by Toni Morrison
Go Tell It On A Mountain by James Baldwin
Song of Solomon by Toni Morrison
The Color Purple by Alice Walker
I Know Why The Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou
Girl, Woman, Other by Bernardine Evaristo
