Philip Mallory Jones: IN THE SWEET BYE & BYE SL (a Second Life installation)
Artist(s):
Title:
- IN THE SWEET BYE & BYE SL (a Second Life installation)
Exhibition:
Creation Year:
- 2007
Medium:
- Immersive, interactive Second Life environment
Category:
Artist Statement:
IN THE SWEET BYE & BYE SL (a Second Life installation) is a fusion of visual art, literature, and digital media that composes an immersive memoir. It is a dialogue between traditional and contemporary creative and cultural practice, themes, and threads derived from personal and family anecdotes, African-American/Diaspora lore, and allegories that reside deep in the human psyche. It is a continuation of my four decades of art-making and research, and my creative collaborations with poet/novelist Dorothy Mallory Jones, my mother. IN THE SWEET BYE & BYE SL illuminates a process of migration, transformation, and convergence of concepts and designs through technologies and temporal terrains. It is part of a larger project that also includes a real-life gallery installation and a limited-edition portfolio book.
Developing IN THE SWEET BYE & BYE as an immersive environment in Second Life marks a paradigm shift in vision. It begins my investigation of narrative compositions that are to be read in three dimensions: the XZ plane (normal text reading), the Y plane (reading layers in depth), and the time plane (memory). My process is intentional and intuitive. It derives from the shared language of family and cultural heritage, and the retained secrets of ritual practice. My work is intended to serve the function of the ritual mask, as the membrane interface of the seen and unseen worlds. It is alchemy, a catalyst of transformation, releasing hidden qualities in the mundane.
Technical Information:
IN THE SWEET BYE & BYE SL is a synthesis of 2D digital paintings and photo/image collage compositions, 3D digital models, animation, video, sound scapes, and text in the immersive, real-time, online environment of Second Life.
