EXHIBITIONS
And What Remains
Zimbabwe, 2018
In Zimbabwe, land clearing occurs through the violent act of burning the land with fire. I was struck by the resilience of the flora that remains despite this destructive act. And What Remains is an ode to the act of resistance despite the literal and metaphorical flames.
Installation view
And What Remains (detail)
And What Remains (plan view)
And What Remains ( Diptych), 2018
Off Water
berlin, 2022
The immeasurable scale of the space-time in which we evolve requires us to permanently adjust the distance to that which surrounds us – in order to measure the scope of our impacts, the potential for actions, their possible failure and the extent of the dynamics that shape the „habitable“.
Water as a major component of our terrestrial system, from its oceanic surfaces to the fauna and flora, structures our relations.
Off water implies changes of state according to metabolic processes. These metamorphoses allow for hybridization and initiate upheaval. The artists of the exhibition deploy spaces that host the meeting of forms and affects. To leave the water implies a movement. Metaphorically, „to be out of the water“ invites us to take a time out. The exhibition is composed as a territory through which the works draw the cartography of another possible space-time – hinting at that which is bigger than us, while allowing proximities and a reversal of scale.
Installation view
Untitled, 2021. Terracotta. 30 x 20cm
Installation view
Bam’s practice approaches clay as a material to investigate human inseparability from our environment. Raised between Africa and Europe, Bam’s work gives form to the pluralities of her personal history, inhabiting the visual and spiritual culture of two distinct worlds as they collide today.
These new sculptures are avatars for the body. They are vessels; vessels with exteriors that resemble skin or leather. They surrender to Bam’s embrace as she prioritises spirit before form. Imperfect, the sculptures pucker and crack, folded and faulted, their exteriors conceal pools of metallic yellow glaze that illuminate the interior – a sacred source.
Bam’s ongoing journey into the Nigerian Yoruba culture unfolds the semiotic aspects of the feminine (intimacy, care, vulnerability, the vessel) as vital in considering how a relationship to nature can break down ideological structures.
There is an increasing amount of discourse today around what it means to be an African in globalised capitals. How does the neo-liberal West engage with pluralities of past, present and future African identity? Bam’s work is an intimate form of this social exploration. Clay holds narrative and curative powers. It is malleable, fragile, erotic; clay remembers. Bam approaches the material for solace, for respite, for liberation. She embraces it, fulfilling a desire for intimacy and symbiosis – the Dutch word Huidhonger is the best descriptor she can conjure for the feeling. It means skin hunger: the feeling people develop when they are disconnected from one another.
In titling the sculptures Ifa, Bam signals their multiplicities. Ifa in Yoruba means both (ifá): divination and (I – fàá): to pull close. Maybe they are votive objects bringing one closer to the divine. As viewers, we are turned into witnesses to the performance of a ritual that has the artist transforming – a newfound willingness to share her intimate space – unadorned, raw, in process. It’s a very African act to invite us into the commune; but, it’s a universal act to invite us to be a community.
Installation view
Installation view
Video of the Oshogbo Sacred Grove
Installation view
EXHIBITIONS
Off Water
berlin, 2022
The immeasurable scale of the space-time in which we evolve requires us to permanently adjust the distance to that which surrounds us – in order to measure the scope of our impacts, the potential for actions, their possible failure and the extent of the dynamics that shape the „habitable“.
Water as a major component of our terrestrial system, from its oceanic surfaces to the fauna and flora, structures our relations.
Off water implies changes of state according to metabolic processes. These metamorphoses allow for hybridization and initiate upheaval. The artists of the exhibition deploy spaces that host the meeting of forms and affects. To leave the water implies a movement. Metaphorically, „to be out of the water“ invites us to take a time out. The exhibition is composed as a territory through which the works draw the cartography of another possible space-time – hinting at that which is bigger than us, while allowing proximities and a reversal of scale.
Installation view
Installation view
Untitled, 2021. Terracotta. 30 x 20cm
