"Black Twitter is not monolithic and is everchanging."
My goal was to take a digital space known as Black Twitter and create my idea of what that space would look like if it was not bound to the internet. What would it look like? I focused on three different areas of Black Twitter because it is not monolithic and it is ever-changing. I looked at Activism, community, and culture as my three categories. Although all of the spaces are under Black Twitter I wanted each area to have its feeling and sense. I specifically used gifs and hashtags associated with each of the categories.
I also felt that adding my voice would be important as well because it is a community that I’m a part of. The website was a mock Twitter page of what I imagined Black Twitter to be if they had a platform. I also created a gif mouse that follows the player around. There is also a nod to Black Planet which was an early Black social media site that predated Twitter, I wanted to highlight that as well. The title was also important to me because outside of Twitter and online black people often signify to one another, this means that we bring light/ or awareness to something. Twitter has become an outlet for Black people to Signify with each other about different topics. As André Brock states the Black Tweeter is the signifier, while the hashtag is signifier, sign and signified, "marking ... the concept to be signified, the cultural context within which the tweet should be understood, and the 'call' awaiting a response." Black Twitter has become a space for black people to have a voice and community.
Made with p5.JS, Adobe Aero , and Photoshop
