Usi's Eye further explores the limbless motifs present in Jaz's earlier digital art (see Ceilings, 2020). This project – initially starting from a commission – also seeks to build on Jaz's exploration into worldbuilding and culture-making, using Speculative Blackness as a vehicle.
Usi's Eye is inspired by the mythical African Usiququmadevu (also known as Isiququmadevu), a world-eating monster. An artefact, a tool straight out of science fiction, and a generational talisman, Usi's Eye is a foundational object of this new world. A hybrid manifest from the honoured traditions of before, and responding to the context of today.
As part of Stryx Gallery's Home Grown Micro-Residency Programme, and in advance of the opening of their new gallery in the Jewellery Quarter, Stryx took over a number of promotional spaces on bus stops around Birmingham City Centre throughout February 2023.
Artists commissioned for the first round of posters were Jaz Morrison, Matthew Springer, B4g Lord, and Nuala Clooney.
Jaz responded to the commission with Usi's Eye, which takes visual inspiration from blueprints, constellations, and renaissance paintings to give the golden calabash a sense of history.
Special thanks to Stryx Gallery and Marcin Sz.
*Works were displayed at Heaton Street, Hockley (B18); City Road & Shenstone Road, Soho (B18); Icknield Street, Hockley (B18); Warstone Lane, Jewellery Quarter (B18); Ladywood Middleway (B16).