Red Bark Powder & Noise

In John Parker’s In My Time of Dying a History of Death And The Dead in West Africa, pages 70 through 72, Parker discusses the visual impact of color in the mourning and burial process. The primary colors are black, white and red and often these can be mixed, sprinkled on as a combination of white and red. This coloring is often from red bark powder (odame). Here is a link to camwood dye that might be used for the project.

https://shepherdtextiles.com/dyeing-with-camwood

In earlier pages from about 65 to 70 Parker talks about the Sonic experience in the morning process. There are often acts of sadness, sobbing and crying in the streets. On page 63 they talk about gunpowder explosions, a sound barrage which has been documented by some colonizer. Parker also talks about the fact that drowning is considered a bad death, especially if the body is lost and I'm wondering if part of my project could include an audio track that reclaims the ocean for stolen Africans to create a cacophony including The sound of waves as meditative and In relationship with the wailing and song. Just thoughts…