sixtwosix is the first instalment of a multimedia project that contemplates the mysterious identity of a horse jockey captured in one of the first motion pictures made. In a collection titled “Animal Locomotion” by Eadweard Muybridge, series “Plate 626” (1887) captures a galloping horse ridden by a Black figure in a jockey uniform. I was curious to know the name and other details of the rider, but was only able to find the name of the horse, Annie G. There is an existing notebook where information of the riders and horses captured in the “Animal Locomotion” collection was recorded. However, the notes pertaining to the Black riders are missing, therefore leaving the jockey in Plate 626 unidentifiable. The disappearance of this information renders these Black figures invisible in the beginnings of cinematic history. They are rendered less important than the horses they were photographed with, and less important than their white counterparts, whose information was able to be recovered. Through research and speculative fiction, I am creating a body of work that places one of the first motion picture stars in today’s culture of celebrity and excess. As a prelude to the next phase of this project, the compositions seen in this series collectively serve as a storyboard for a short animated film that will take the viewer behind the scenes of the subject’s chaotic life, like a segment of 60 Minutes or Entertainment Tonight.
exhibited at Maison de la Culture in Notre-Dame-de-Grâce, Montréal, Canada. 2025.