Calli Roche

“We wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.

Wherefore take unto you the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand.”

—Ephesians 6:12-13 (KJV)

Armament by Calli Roche represents a reclaiming of the idea of the "Armour of God" as taken from the Bible. It is a reflection of the artist's own survival strategies, collected and created over a lifetime within the context of themself as God: a Black woman. Composed of found objects and natural materials that hold both a sense of temporality and experience, Calli offers up these works as a by-product of the somatic healing they've derived from object-making, reclaiming the biblical Armour of God as a framework.

The work charts Calli's reconnection to ancestors, rewiring of neural pathways, and expression of self as a means to connect with others through reflection on their experiences with mental illness, a religious upbringing, and connection to both the Fiji Islands and the Caribbean.

"It's an arsenal with tools and weapons, new and old, some in use and some retired. I am building an armoury and a sanctuary to evaluate my devices of protection, subsistence, and resistance. The appropriation of the Armour of God is an attempt to belie Western ideas surrounding the personhood of God, while transforming the concept of armour to something personal, practical and dynamic. Many of the materials used were sourced on pleasant walks through my neighborhood; an inability to pass up shiny rubbish as I am rushing to the train; or even purchasing an item to time-stamp an emotion or experience. I connect the experience of collecting to the way I have moved through the world and the healing I have found in purposeful meditation and therapy, but also in grief, heartache and some very difficult periods of my life. I use my physical interaction with the materials as a performative journal, creating a new doorway or space of transformative safety. The process of healing through creating these works is the art, the objects are what remains."