Makin’ Gorceries

2021

Makin’ Groceries

Makin’ Groceries is a phrase we use in New Orleans which means “to buy groceries”. Inspired by a childhood memory, this work explores the phrase as an act of resourcefulness by using found objects and discarded materials. This work celebrates the act of resourcefulness and representation of a black aesthetic.

Building on the “The Black Aesthetic”, a collection of essays by black scholars, and having the experience to “make do” with what I have accessibility too, I am investigating the relationship of resourcefulness and its relationship to blackness. Growing up in Black neighborhoods will leave lasting visuals and remnants of culture within the mind that are drastically different from surround neighborhoods that demonstrate experiences of privilege, nostalgia.  My idea of a black aesthetic exists as a demonstration if visuals, smells, and sounds of blackness in spaces where such an aesthetic does not exist. To demonstrate a black aesthetic does not mean “to act black” or verbally demonstrate blackness, for it is a perpetual representation of the culture, for the culture and by the culture.

Growing up in a household with a single mother who was considered a middle-class worker under the standards of the government, there were many instances where we were financially compromised. Entering the workforce at an early age meant that I had to financially contribute to the household. Makin’ Groceries is does not stem from a place of privilege, instead the intentions are to explore the idea of “making do”.

Building on conversations surrounding black womanhood, the reclamation the black female body, and the experience of having been discarded due to my gender and race prompted me to explore the value in objects that are discard or left behind.

Jer’Lisa J. Devezin

2021