The Radical Other, 2019
Installation // Plexiglass, oranges, plaster oranges manipulated to look real, fruit scale, milk crates, video // 2019. Photos taken by Sara Stern.
The Radical Other is an installation made in response to the Latasha Harlins Murder that began the 1992 LA riots. Latasha Harlins, a fifteen-year-old black girl, was shot and killed by Soon Ja Du, a Korean store clerk while trying to buy orange juice. Soon Ja Du was found guilty of murder and sentenced to community service.
In the video, I juice oranges overlayed with the security camera footage from the bodega at the time of the murder. The security footage is cropped and blurred until the image becomes unrecognizable. In the background, oranges are juiced until they overflow and spill off camera. The video's soundtrack is a collage of excerpts that include: testimonies of Korean women who were affected by the LA riots, the news real from the Latasha Harlins case, and Tupac "Thugz Mansion."
In front of the video, etched plexi glass signs are hung from the ceiling. The etching is text delving into notions of fugitivity and anti-blackness while exploring the intersections of authenticity, cultural hybridity, perception, fear, and solidarity. Some of the oranges are real, while others are cast from plaster and painted to look real.
In different iterations of the work, the combined oranges total the bodyweight of Latasha Harlins.