Sacred Seeds is a multimedia exploration of cultural technologies in Black culture and history and prevalence today. The impact of fractals is explored through portraits of African threaded hairstyles paired with patterned fabrics, images accompanied by audio of storytelling rhythms of Yoruba talking and Capoeira drums, intricate haircuts and hair designs, and estimation within the game of Mancala.
Traditionally, indigenous cultures were deemed “primitive” and incapable of grasping STEM topics- this belief led to years of forced indoctrination of Western teachings upon these cultures. The fields of ethnomathematics and ethnocomputing, refute such claims and attribute the initial knowledge of mathematics and technology with the practices of these cultures. The pioneers of ethnomathematics have found that geometric formulas are consistent with fractals found in nature from the branching of trees to the spirals and tendrils seen in various plants. These patterns in nature were adopted by African and Indigenous cultures and applied to the formation of textiles, architecture, and artwork. Quilting, cornrow stylings, barbershop hair designs, and musical rhythms are just a few of the examples of the lineal cultural practices as they appear today, also known as heritage algorithms.
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Shape-Up
Dual Channel Video
Runtime: 29 seconds