Eluzre is an avatar for love, jealousy, black femininity, and maternal protection. Elurze is simply an anagram of the Erzule, and this project was inspired by the Haitian Lua Erzulie, which is a spiritual concept and figure in Haitian spirituality.
2017: Erzule is the Haitian African spirit of love, beauty, jewelry, dancing, luxury, and flowers. In this project, the motif comes from Haitian "veve" line drawings and patterns, and I wanted to connect those patterns a sense of cosmic power and universal presence. The black background is both the vastness of black space in the universe, and of course, represents Erzule as spirit of a black women. Jenny Oliver's company commissioned this project through a grant from the New England Foundation for the Arts. This project was completed in 2017, and was used in performance by Modern Connections Dance theater at the We Create Festival in Boston.
This project was commissioned through a NEFA grant and created for Jenny Oliver's Modern Connections Dance Company. Oliver approached me with this project and suggested we work together. This project remains one of my favorite projects to date, but I did not create a series of photographs from this costume. the Elurze wearable art is currently in the collection of Jenny Oliver Modern Connections. The 28 photographs below show how I created Eluzre, from design to finished suit and helmet.