DARNstudio’s Aago reimagines the memorial or monument as a new typology that moves beyond static commemoration toward an active site of reflection, engagement, and possibility. Developed for Roanoke College’s enslaved laborers memorial project, Aago addresses the paradox of honoring histories that were intentionally erased while creating space for healing, empowerment, and future imagining. It shifts from remembering as a passive act to remembering as an active social practice.
Derived from the Yoruba word for “watch” or “clock,” Aago functions as a means of marking time—interpreting history not as a linear narrative but as an interconnected spiral of memories, truths, and lived experiences. Through interdisciplinary research spanning historical data, African architectural traditions, material culture, and critical Afro-futurist inquiry, the project creates a sculptural “data portrait” that acknowledges both known and unknown histories.
Constructed from brick—the material labor through which enslaved men, women, and children physically built Roanoke College—Aago foregrounds the often-unseen producers of wealth and culture. Simultaneously memorial and portal, it invites viewers not only to confront the past, but to imagine more equitable futures.
NAME BRICKS
The Aago is made out of bricks inscribed with the names of the identified enslaved. It’s surface is a work in progress and will evolve as the names of to be discovered individuals will be added to blank brick surfaces. To correct the harmful effects of the language of erasure, “Named” has been substituted for “No Name” and “Known” substituted for “Unknown”.
Cultural, regional, political and social histories represented as a continuous spirals. Representation of time as non-linear and evolving.