reader view available here ( in–process )
over the summer of 2020, i chose to dedicate the remainder of my time at the school of the art institute of chicago (saic) to practice hemp cultivation on a small, non-industrial scale for processing into yarn for various fiber-based applications. following the harvest, the processing steps are as follows: water retting to decompose the exterior stalk, breaking the exterior stalk to access the fibers, skutching and hackling the fibers to a spinnable density, drum carding the fibers to create rovings, and spinning the rovings into yarn. as an additional component to my investigation of labor processes, i deconstructed an saic-owned spinning wheel to reverse engineer according to my physical proportions.
i situate this work as a response to three main themes: the mass exploitation of the global south which is invisible, yet inherent in the production of nearly all consumer goods; the predominantly white-owned cannabis and hemp industries that are booming while hundreds of thousands of black and brown people are currently experiencing carceral punishment for cannabis related indictments; and the impending collapse of the global shipping economy as a result of climate change. by establishing a mutually beneficial relationship with the land and the cannabis plant while recovering these labor processes from industrially exploitative practices, this research serves as a proposal for a living practice at the intersections of environmentalism, abolition, and anticapitalism.
although i planned to begin the cultivation process this semester, saic has unfortunately decided that they are unwilling to take on the legal risks implicated and paperwork required by illinois department of agriculture’s administrative codes as outlined in the 2019 industrial hemp act.
this page visually documents various elements of the research process from the past four months including a screenshot from my research presentation, photographs, scans, schematics, email correspondences, and legal codes from the illinois department of agriculture.
special thanks to e. saffronia downing, alexandria letease ijeoma eregbu, nelly agassi, melissa meyers, dan price, andy hunter, & brad johns for their support and advocacy to realize this research.
i’ll have a voice memo of me reading the reader view soon
over the summer of 2020, i chose to dedicate the remainder of my time at the school of the art institute of chicago (saic) to practice hemp cultivation on a small, non-industrial scale for processing into yarn for various fiber-based applications. following the harvest, the processing steps are as follows: water retting to decompose the exterior stalk, breaking the exterior stalk to access the fibers, skutching and hackling the fibers to a spinnable density, drum carding the fibers to create rovings, and spinning the rovings into yarn. as an additional component to my investigation of labor processes, i deconstructed an saic-owned spinning wheel to reverse engineer according to my physical proportions.
i situate this work as a response to three main themes: the mass exploitation of the global south which is invisible, yet inherent in the production of nearly all consumer goods; the predominantly white-owned cannabis and hemp industries that are booming while hundreds of thousands of black and brown people are currently experiencing carceral punishment for cannabis related indictments; and the impending collapse of the global shipping economy as a result of climate change. by establishing a mutually beneficial relationship with the land and the cannabis plant while recovering these labor processes from industrially exploitative practices, this research serves as a proposal for a living practice at the intersections of environmentalism, abolition, and anticapitalism.
although i planned to begin the cultivation process this semester, saic has unfortunately decided that they are unwilling to take on the legal risks implicated and paperwork required by illinois department of agriculture’s administrative codes as outlined in the 2019 industrial hemp act.
this page visually documents various elements of the research process from the past four months including a screenshot from my research presentation, photographs, scans, schematics, email correspondences, and legal codes from the illinois department of agriculture.
special thanks to e. saffronia downing, alexandria letease ijeoma eregbu, nelly agassi, melissa meyers, dan price, andy hunter, & brad johns for their support and advocacy to realize this research.
