Cyphers

I am intrigued by the idea of edges and margins— specifically, people living on the edge or in the margins. A special concern is displacement. A diasporian’s identity is often just a number on an identity card or passport: a numeric code, a cypher. “Cypher” comes from Arabic meaning “nothing,” a definition that evolved to mean not only “secret writing,” but also “nonentity” with no value or influence.

Since returning to America after 24 years of belonging to the American diaspora, I have begun a series of kinetic installations of suspended, two-sided coffee filter paper “moths.” Coffee is a universal drink and the notions of filtering and moving through seem appropriate to the subject of migration.