The Truth of Mujinga’s Flo

Sandra Mujinga’s work of art, “Flo”, fabricates a transformative experience that implores audience members to recognize an alternate perspective on inner beauty. In “Flo” an in-depth interpretation is found, Mujinga persuading individuals to recognize art and beauty beyond the naked eye. The evolution of clothing and color throughout this cathartic experience can express the different perspectives of how inner beauty can be seen if it was given a sentient form. Not only do I believe that this hologram, in general terms of a woman in a dress holds a much deeper meaning for the audience to find, but I believe that Flo will tend to confuse some who may not fully grasp what the artist is trying to show within their work of art and therefore would not get as much as the other works of art. 

Sandra Mujinga’s work of art, “Flo” was able to be created because of the model that was being used, Adrian Blount, who is a performer, wore the sculpture that can then be transformed into something more. This art piece was made in the year 2019 and was made to be a hologram, first showing the model and the original article of clothing and then the show starts by turning the room entirely pitch black. As a small set of times passes by, the original mode will then get transformed into something that is more visually aesthetic but still abstract, changing her form into this green outline of a person. The reason why Sandra decided to present her piece of art by using a black woman as a model is for the fact that many throughout America have made a stereotype that seeing someone with black skin is deemed as dangerous. To show her take on this ideology, she used a black model and showed this abstract piece of art to show the inner beauty Although there are many drastic changes when it comes to the rest of the models’ figures. But something that I noticed is that when it comes to the new hologram that is being shown, the face in the hologram model transformed into something that is mainly simple, just an outline of a head and two dots to show where the eyes would be located. Even though this hologram was being performed by Adrian Blount, Sandra mentioned that this hologram is supposed to be seen as the bodybuilder, Ann-Marie Crooks, who Sandra was fascinated by (Mujinga). This art piece is far different from any other traditional art since Flo was made using cameras, lights, and other forms of technology, just so that the audience can see the work of art, compared to more traditional art where they will be displayed on a wall for people to walk by. Flo however is not just something that a civilian will pass by without much of a thought since this piece of art is not something that is just displayed, but it is an experience when seeing exactly how the art is displayed, the audience must watch it completely to fully grasp what it is about. Not only did Sandra want to make Flo as to be as free as she can be with her work, but she also wants her audience to feel the same way. Even though some might see Flo as abstract art, knowing the knowledge of how it came to be, this hologram has a deeper meaning not only for the artist but as well as others whom the message is addressing. When first entering Sandra’s exhibit, it is a very lonely vibe, the room being dark but still having one singular color lighting up the room, one could say that it can feel something straight from a horror movie. But I feel as if this exhibit was presented in this form was done deliberately, since Sandra’s message has a deeper meaning when it comes to her work, and her exhibit is part of the experience as well. Comparing it to more traditional art exhibits, with just having art pieces displayed on the walls, Sandra’s was far different. 

Once entering Sandra’s exhibit, the audience is introduced to this dark room and having all of Sandra’s work displayed throughout the entire room. Multiple deformed mannequin figures are set up throughout her exhibit, with very dark clothing that mainly hides the head section of the mannequin as well as them having almost cloak-like clothing that is supposed to have a dark figure vibe. Once going past other art pieces, one will then go to the Flo exhibit, starting by showing the original model, with actual lights shining on the hologram, it then starts to darken along with the model that will then transform into a figure that can be seen constantly changing given time. One thing that I noticed with the meaning of her work of art “Flo” and the actual presentation, is that since Sandra wants to address the dark truth about how society sees black people, she wanted her exhibit to have that same meaning, having the room dark and even having music in the exhibit as well. But although this is just my opinion on what I believe Sandra is trying to communicate with her audience, other sources have their own take on this work of art, such as Eric Otieno Sumba, who wrote about Sandra’s hologram as well. 

When it comes to Sumba’s point of view on this work of art, he as well gave much praise to Sandra’s work, but he does not simply state that the hologram that was created by Sandra, was simply beautiful, but he tends to go in-depth with own research as well. When beginning his review of the work of art, he instantly states, “The story of how Sandra Mujinga came to be an artist who works with textiles is a beautiful one” (Sumba). Sumba’s review was not a biased review where he mainly talks about how the hologram looked, but as well as telling the history as to why the work of art ever got displayed in the first place, bringing into a review about stories of Sandra’s life and the life of her mother as well. Sumba reviews of the hologram tend to focus mainly on the idea of where Sandra’s background information was about, such as where took residence over, but the reason why his review is very impactful was the fact of how detailed it is. Sumba goes into detail about facts as to why Sandra decided to choose her style of making art, stating “she wanted her art to be immersive and even mentally choreographed how people would move around each piece” (Sumba) Sumba fully reviews not only the hologram on how it looks like and the material that was used for it, but he also manages to bring in all of this information about Sandra to help the audience understand her better. But not only does he introduce all of this, but he also understands the deep meaning when it comes to Sandra’s hidden message since Sandra’s original message tends to head in the direction of racial profiling and how people throughout the world see and react when they see someone of color. But as well as Sandra’s decision of making her art entirely different from the most traditional artist. Sumba however is not the only reviewer that focuses on Sandra’s work of art.

Dilpreet Bhullar is another reviewer that went in depth about Sandra’s art exhibit as well. Although Sumba’s review does include much information regarding Sandra’s life before and after she became an artist, as well as including other information as to her family history such as, Sandra’s mother being an artist as well. But when looking upon Bhullar’s review when it comes to Sandra’s exhibit, it does not go into a level of depth as Sumba. Although it may not include the same amount of information, it does not discourage the fact it still holds a very strong amount of details about the exhibit itself. Bhullar’s review starts by stating many facts about what the exhibit is and mainly what Flo stands for, but he also brings in facts about Sandra. From where she lives, as well as mentioning that Sandra is also an activist and a DJ. Since Sandra’s work of art, Flo, and the entire exhibit implies a deeper meaning of racial stereotypes, Bhullar also delves into a similar type of information that was presented in Sumba’s review as well, going in-depth on what Sandra wants to express with the lights, colors and the way that she displays her art. But what makes Bhullar different from Sumba’s review was mainly focusing on the exhibit, describing everything that was presented. When he puts his focus on the work Flo he tends to describe how exactly it looks, what it is, as well as information about the model and how it came to be. But what he mentions about the actual hologram shows exactly what made his review very agreeable to read, “Serving as both an artwork and a costume, the wearable sculpture gives an illusion of superhuman forms.” (Bhullar). Bhullar’s review is very distinguished and gives his honest thoughts about what the work of art represented, as well as brings the music track that was being played during the presentation. Following and ending it with what Sandra was inspired to make this hologram and her exhibit, stating that Sandra is trying to bridge the past and present with her use of technology and her message. Both these reviewers are good sources to understand all aspects of Sandra’s work of art, as well as giving their own thought about this work, allowing the audience to get a deeper understanding when it comes to Sandra’s exhibit. Not only were the reviews of this art very articulate and able to realize the importance of this work of art but going off John Berger, “Ways of Seeing”, Sandra’s art has a connection with this writing. Knowing that Sandra’s work of art, Flo has the message about the dark truth of how society sees people of color, how people not only in the past but something that still occurs in the present, is that when some see people of color they have negative thoughts. Sandra wanted to address how people of color were looked upon as the aggressors and made this work of art to say otherwise, and this is where John Berger’s writing comes into play. John Berger states many ideas about art, what they can mean, many ideas that certain art can give, a lot of messages they can have behind them, and how they have been manipulated over the years. When it comes to Sandra’s work of art and Berger’s writing, there is a very similar idea from Berger’s idea that can be connected to Sandra’s work is the idea of mystification. Berger brings up this idea of mystification when an audience sees a work of art and has all of these assumptions about it, such as beauty, truth, civilization, etc. This relates to Flo the reason that Sandra made this work of art to not only show the inner beauty of people of color but also use the assumption of truth to show that this work of art has a much deeper message that tries to tell the dark truth to their audience. Although many artists like to make their art in the past, not really expressing what was wrong during that time or trying to find a way to find a new perspective and how it can change, Sandra tries to change the way we look at things by addressing the past. Sandra wanted to let her audience know about the inner beauty of the people that were looked at as dangerous, by bringing media trends from now to address this topic. Bhullar also addressed this issue within his review and gave his thoughts about it as well, this is why Berger stated, “The past is never there waiting to be discovered, to be recognized for exactly what it is.” (11) Sandra’s work clearly connects with this quote and shows that not only is her message related to many people of color throughout the world, but also has a big impact on me as well. 

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