In the performance JunkanooHakkaMama, created by Jodie Lyn-Kee-Chow, the artist and five other performers engaged in a ritualistic representation of the five senses. Drawing from her Jamaican background, and from her Afro-Caribbean and Chinese heritage, Lyn-Kee-Chow embodies the character of a healer who uses herbal remedies and other curative elements, attempting to overcome the trauma of colonial exploitation in order to reconnect the body with nature.

View the video documentation of the performance below:

Jodie Lyn-Kee-Chow is a Jamaican-American interdisciplinary artist living and working in Queens, NY.  Her work often explores performance and installation art drawing from the nostalgia of her homeland, Caribbean folklore, fantasy, feminism, globalism, spirituality, environmentalism, and migration. Lyn-Kee-Chow’s work has garnered an MFA from Hunter College,  New York Foundation for the Arts Fellowship Award in Interdisciplinary Art (2012), Rema Hort Mann Artist in Community Engagement Award (2017), Franklin Furnace Fund (2017-18), Culture Push Fellowship for Utopian Practice (2018), Queens Art Fund (2019). Residencies include Triangle Arts Association, Brooklyn, NY (2020-21).

FULL VIDEO CREDITS

Junkanoohakkamama was performed live at Smack Mellon on February 20, 2021 and is an original work by Jodie Lyn-Kee-Chow. This performance was presented in conjunction with the exhibition “Land Akin” (January 9-March 7, 2021) curated by Gabriel de Guzman.

Performed by

Jodie Lyn-Kee-Chow

Vidho Lorville (on drum)

Maxwell Abeles

Katie Cercone

Coco Dolle 

Ronit Levin Delgado

Caroline Garcia

Sallie D. Sanders

Project Coordinator

Tal Rickards

Project Assistant

Hsiao- Chu Hsia 

Maxwell Abeles

1st Camera

Torris Pelichet

2nd Camera 

Hsiao- Chu Hsia 

Edited by

Torris Pelichet, Pelichet Productions

Image above: Jodie Lyn-Kee-Chow, JunkanooHakkaMama, 2018, Performance with musical score, props, works on paper, 30 min. Courtesy of the artist, Photo: Tony James