Camden Cancophony

 

Camden Market…a cacophony of everything! From the tasty to the tasteless, from the weird to the wonderful, from the bizarre to the beautiful, from the extreme to the banal, from the…….and oh yes, there were hats!

Yinka Shonibare @ The Serpentine Gallery, London

 

 Wow! The Serpentine Gallery never ceases to amaze, question, challenge nor disappoint. You leave swooning or swimming with thoughts and feelings that confront one’s views and news! Yinka Shonibare CBE was born in London in 1962 and raised between Lagos and London. Is it any wonder that he brings such powerful imagery, creativity and artistry to the Serpentine Gallery. 

The exhibition by Yinka Shonibare titled ‘Suspended States’ is probing and provocative. He ‘explores (why can artists do this and not the rest of us?) cultural identity in a globalised world’. Get the drift for what’s coming? 

His works incudes installations, sculptures, textiles and wood cuts (why can’t we all be multi skilled instead of having to be put in one basket?). 

His works are anchored to the place and space , a gallery in a Royal Park. He explores the role of public colonial statues (funny that as we just passed the huge memorial statue to Prince Albert, Queen Victoria’s consort), sites of refuge (no not the Rwanda Solution!) the legacy of war (are you getting the drift of how  impactful this exhibition is?) and consequential attempts at peace (yes the ‘peace’ deals that paved the way for today’s middle east at war). 

‘Sanctuary City’ is in a dark place and comprises  ‘scaled down replicas of historic and contemporary buildings from across the globe that have been or considered places of refuge for persecuted and vulnerable groups’. 

The ‘War Library’ is profound and data based and artistically driven. It contains 5270 bound books in Dutch wax print cotton with 2700 books in gold lettering naming conflicts and peace treaties the result of imperial ambitions. Included in the data base are the indigenous wars that occurred in Australia. But the installation raises also questions about ‘human memory and amnesia’. It asks us the question - what have we learned from conflict and peace treaties?

To read more about these astounding works - https://www.serpentinegalleries.org/whats-on/yinka-shonibare-cbe-suspended-states/

The First Supper (Galaxy Black) 2023 by Tavares Strachan

Despite or maybe inspite of a Conservative Government in Westminster the Royal Academy of the Arts exhibits in its forecourt ‘The First Supper (Galaxy Black) 2023. The artwork by Tavares Strachan seats 12 significant activists, musicians, explorers and political leaders from Africa ‘for physical and intellectual nourishment’. And resting beside the table is a thylacine, now extinct! The Academy not Westminster is reflecting on the need for informed discussion across society. This is art reflecting life!

Rushdi Anwar @ Ab-Anbar Gallery London

The conversation that took place tonight at the An-Anbar Gallery  between Rushdi Anwar and Alessio Antoniolli was a provocative and emotional journey into the the artist’s personal and insightful experiences as an indigenous member of Kurdistan. It is a journey told through installations, sculptures, sounds and moving images developed through artistic and creative practice.