ABYSSINIAN CYBER-VERNACULUS
CCA MFA Design Thesis
Exhibited at California Academy of Sciences, Hubbell Street Galeries
“The politics of design are the politics of self-affirmation.”
- Okwui EnwezorAbyssinian Cyber Vernaculus is a series of Virtual Reality experiences designed to contest the active exclusion of Black and Brown formalisms and artefacts from the architectural canon and contradict the apocryphal stories of Africa.
The project emerged as three distinct VR journeys driven by the player who assumes the role of each “hero”, and navigates through their shared terrain of the Medieval monolithic churches of Lalibela, Ethiopia. Each hero represents the hegemonic narratives put forth by the self proclaimed experts of the historic site: Kentucky Johnson (the white saviour), Yohannes (the god fearing Ethiopian man) and Sebi (the hotep, ie woefully misinformed afro-diasporic man).


The book is available to order via the link below.
https://www.blurb.com/bookstore/invited/8142042/ed7621d666893571532b4411d546daac7d751fb7