Emergent Energies presents a selection of innovative artwork by: Theresa Weber, Matheus Marques Abu, Dafe Oboro, Gosette Lubondo, Eyasu Telayneh and Zana Masombuka. Comprising photographic works, paintings and sculpture, the exhibition highlights the vitality that each of these young artists brings to their work.Theresa Weber's multi-media installations are an absorbing blend of cultural, historical and mythological references that reflect her conceptual approach to the ever-changing nexus of identity. Influenced by the writings of the Caribbean postcolonial theorist and poet, Édouard Glissant, she examines the complexities of cultural reinvention using motifs borrowed from nature. Her practice blurs the boundary between sculpture and performance.
The paintings of Matheus Marques Abu are influenced by his ancestry, spirituality and the daily lives of those of the African diaspora in Brazil. Focusing on the Atlantic Ocean as a site of memory, Marques Abu explores the interwoven colonial and Afro-Atlantic histories, by placing the sea, nature and the Ghanaian Adinkra ideograms as central figures within his work.
Working mainly in photography and film allows artist Dafe Oboro to explore a multifaceted approach to storytelling. Drawing upon fashion motifs and popular culture, Oboro uses sound and imagery to contemplate questions of masculinity, movement across time and space and the socio-political state of contemporary Nigeria.
Emergent Energies includes photographic works by Gosette Lubondo, a rising star of contemporary African photography. Lubondo's contemplative photographs explore memory, time and heritage.
Eysau Telayneh creates captivating abstract paintings filled with his reflections on contemporary life in the vibrant cultural hub of Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. His passion for mathematics adds further impetus to the colours appearing in these paintings, which balance gestural strokes with geometric lines and forms to create dynamic compositions.
Lastly, photographic works by Zana Masombuka - a.k.a. 'Ndebele Superhero' - a South African visual artist will be shown. In her series entitled, 2009: Namba S'khambe, she explores the politics of a 'seat at the table' and how capitalism and inequity inform the dynamics of engagement for all institutional paradigms.
Press release courtesy October Gallery.
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