Intermittent Delight (Akosua Adoma Owusu, 2007)

“Intermittent Delight juxtaposes close-ups of batik textiles, fashion and design from the 1950s and 1960s, images of men weaving and women sewing in Ghana, and fragments of a Westinghouse 1960s commercial— aimed to instruct women on the how-to of refrigerator decoration. Constructed from a combination of 1960s Afrobeat, traditional Asante Adwa music, and field recordings of West African men and women producing cloths and garments, the soundtrack pulls the piece together and imbues it with a jolty and festive tone. The work touches upon the idea of feminism’s uneven geographical and historical development, and the nuances of labor conditions women face depending on where they live.” – New Langton Arts

Keywords: african-american, appropration, editing, experimental, female, found footage, ghana, music, person of color, spatial montage