“Imaging” Fox Point & Cidade Velha
A Fox Point Cape Verdean Project Collaboration
filmmaker/historian Claire Andrade-Watkins & Artist John Craig Freeman
Click here to view examples of “imaging”
PROJECT DESCRIPTION
“Imaging” Fox Point/Cidade Velha is a collaboration between the Fox Point Cape Verdean Project, the documentary work and research of historian/filmmaker Claire Andrade-Watkins and the work and research of artist John Craig Freeman. “Imaging Place” reinforces and compliments the underlying premise of globalization and community implicit in both projects while creatively and innovatively expanding the depth and breadth of each project.
The focus on the cultural, geopolitical and economic dynamics and impact of globalization on community is particularly germane for Cape Verdeans in general and the Cape Verde community in North America in particular. The Cape Verdeans in America have a multi-generational interaction and relationship with Cape Verde, stretching back almost two centuries, which is in a constant state of evolution. For the Cape Verdean communities of the Diaspora, native born, or descendent, Cape Verde is their place of origin, linking them by language, kinship, a shared colonial past, and the transatlantic journey of emigration. Joining forces with the cutting edge technology and methodology of Imaging Place allows us to create a multi-dimensional and innovative cyber community that first locates Fox Point then builds linkages to Cape Verde and other communities of the Cape Verdean Diaspora. This is a quantum leap forward to develop an immersive, interactive digital media focusing on the educational, cultural and historical experiences of Cape Verde and the Diaspora. This collaboration creates a new baseline and understanding of a unique 21st century transnational community. It will draw from and challenge the disciplines of social science, history and anthropology as well as documentary and narrative practices.
Imaging Fox Point/Cape Verde is the creation of a virtual space that globalizes a local community through the research and creative work of Professor Freeman and his Imaging Place project, which he describes as: “… a user navigated, interactive computer program that combines panoramic photography, digital video, and three-dimensional technologies to investigate and document situations where the forces of globalization are impacting the lives of individuals in local communities.”
The collaboration between Professor Freeman and myself merges digital art and the extensive archival material collected during the research for the documentary, “SOME KIND OF FUNNY PORTO RICAN?: A Cape Verdean American Story, which includes rare archival photographs, stock footage and distinctive “first voice” oral narratives.