December 5-9, 2018
exhibiting with 50 Golborne
Tuesday, December 04, 2018
Tuesday, September 05, 2017
 |
| But I am breathing under water (detail), Thread, graphite on trace paper, 2017 |
Wura-Natasha
Ogunji
Curated by Eva Barois De Caevel
ifa-Galerie Berlin
September 29, 2017-January
14, 2018
Opening:
7pm, Thursday, September 28, 2017
Performances
The
Kissing Mask, Thursday, September 28, 8pm.
If
I loved you, Friday, September 29, 6pm.
Sweep,
Saturday, September 30, 3pm
The
Kissing Mask, Saturday, January 13, 2pm
In “Every Mask I Ever Loved” Wura-Natasha Ogunji presents a series of newly commissioned drawings, and re-creations of her performances “Sweep”, “The Kissing Mask”, and “If I loved you”, thereby continuing her exploration of the presence of women in both public and private space. The exhibition consists of a display of works that are instrumental within the performances or act as echoes of it.
Through drawings (comprised of hand-stitched figures on architectural trace paper), video and performance, Ogunji explores physicality, endurance and gestures of the body; our relationship to geographical, architectural and filmic space; as well as memory and history. Many of her performances highlight the relationship between the body and social power and presence, investigating how women, in particular, occupy space through both epic and ordinary actions.
Splitting her time between Austin and Lagos, Ogunji was deeply influenced by her experience of living between two countries and, more recently, of residing in Lagos. “Sweep” was originally performed during Ogunji’s first visit to Nigeria: she wanted the land to remember her presence. She has since performed it in different contexts and countries, deepening her thinking about the presence of women within those societies, and exploring the notion of homeland and diasporic identity. “The Kissing Mask” and “If I loved you” are ways to experiment with self-consciousness, intimacy and privacy, and what one could call “the limits of empathy and identification.” (Kathy-Ann Tan, 2016).
Being the exhibition of the third chapter of « Untie to Tie », dedicated to intersectional feminisms, « Every Mask I Ever Loved » wishes to be not a discourse about feminism but an assertion : an existing space for one artist, not « expected to educate […] white people, […] men […] to [her] humanity » (Audre Lorde, 1984), but invited to express what matters to her, freely and creatively.
--Eva Barois De Caevel
--Eva Barois De Caevel
Tuesday-Sunday, 2–6 pm
www.untietotie.org
www.ifa.de
*
Thursday, February 23, 2017
Exhibition Opening: expansion of t i m e
Works by Wura-Natasha Ogunji &
Raoul Olawale Da Silva
curated by Sandra Obiago
Exhibition Opening
Saturday, February 25, 2017
2 - 5pm
Temple Muse, Victoria Island, Lagos
February 25-April 28, 2017
Monday, September 07, 2015
The Kissing Mask
The Kissing Mask was first performed at the Seattle Art Museum as part of the opening night of Disguise: Masks and Global African Art curated by Pam McClusky & Erika Dalya Massaquoi.
The
Kissing Mask is a performance inspired by one of ruby onyinyechi amanze's drawings. The drawing is titled:
that
low hanging kind of sun, the one that lingers two feet above your
head, (never dying) house plants in exchange for your
freedom...orchids in exchange for your love, who are you kissing,
when you kiss a mask?
I
was particularly drawn to this question: who
are you kissing, when you kiss a mask?
For the performance I have created a mask [which riffs off of amanze's drawing]. I sit on a plinth over the
course of the evening and kiss audience members who approach me.
These may be cheek, face or lip kisses.
 |
| Photograph: John Rudolph |
The
Kissing Mask
reconnects the 'artifact' to the present moment by proposing an
intimate act between artist, mask and viewer. As such, this
performance complicates and dismantles the mask as sacred object or
historical relic by making use of it on a living body [that of the
artist/performer]. The performance also becomes a vehicle to speak
about what constitues intimacy, touch, and connection. What do we
share with and show to our family, friends and strangers? Does a
mask offer a space to negotiate that intimacy outside of society's
rules? Does the mask come alive only through the audience? Or
simply the artist? Or, is it always charged? Do the intentions of
the wearer and/or viewer affect the power and pull of the object?
amanze
writes further about her drawing:
when
i think about kissing a mask i think about kissing something that
isn't. something that is blocking you from the thing that you
understand is like you. something that is a disguise. but so
perfectly, that it's becomes its own thing. a mask is a mask. and
it's inanimate 90% of the time. but can be charged in the right
hands. or on the right body. i wondered in that drawing about kissing
this relic. this stolen, no longer charged representation of africa.
kissing it to revive it. kissing it to see what africa tasted like.
kissing it because you're in love. with this thing. or with what this
thing is trying to be. or is in your head. or none of the above.
maybe it was just this woman ghost kissing merman who had on a mask.
In
my own work I often use masks to interrupt present time and create
space or claim power. The mask is an opening, a way to claim physical, social or liminal space. But, I am also interested in how
this particular mask and performance [in true trickster fashion]
might simply be 'none of the above', an object completely devoid of
the sacred or reverent.
Other
work that I am thinking about with regard to this performance
includes: James Luna [The Artifact Piece,1986], Tracey Rose [The
Kiss, 2001], and Lorna Simpson [Flipside, 1991].
* * *
Monday, March 16, 2015
A drawing-performance with ruby amanze
 |
| A drawing-performance with ruby onyinyechi amanze, Feb 21, 2015. |
As part of amanze's exhibition a story. in parts at Tiwani Contemporary. Read more about the performance and exhibition in ruby's interview with Yvette Gresle.
* * *
Monday, February 02, 2015
NO SUCH PLACE: Opens February 26, 2015
 |
| detail from The Garden, 2015 |
No Such Place: Contemporary African Artists in America
Curated by Larry Ossei-Mensah & Dexter Wimberly
Opening Reception: February 26, Thursday, 6-8pm
Edward Tyler Nahem Gallery
37 West 57th Street, NY
February 26-April 3, 2015
featuring: ruby onyinyechi amanze, Modou Dieng, Brendan Fernandes, Derek Fordjour, SherinGuirguis, Vivienne Koorland, Wura-Natasha Ogunji, and AdejokeTugbiyele
Edward Tyler Nahem Fine Art announces No Such Place: Contemporary African Artists in America curated by Larry Ossei-Mensah and Dexter Wimberly, a group exhibition that highlights recent work by nine contemporary African artists living and working in the United States.
The exhibition’s curators, Larry Ossei-Mensah and Dexter Wimberly, seek to initiate a nuanced discussion about "Africaness" in the context of contemporary culture. By including multi-generational artists from African countries as varied as Egypt, Ghana, Kenya, Nigeria, Senegal, South Africa, and Zimbabwe, they seek to further debunk the idea of Africa as a singular, monolithic "place". The exhibition highlights artists who express cultural duality and punctuates the complexities of African identity.
In stating, "There is no such thing as contemporary African art – there is only contemporary art from Africa,” Bisi Silva, independent curator and founder/director of the Centre for Contemporary Art in Lagos, Nigeria warns against generic geographical descriptions of art from a continent that is so vast and diverse. Taking a cue from Silva’s significant statement, No Such Place investigates the overlapping signifiers and great diversity present in these particular artists’ work, providing a space that fosters a broader dialogue about culture, aesthetics, religion and politics. No Such Place dives into artistic intuition, exploring how these nine artists process identity and represent their individual points of view.
According to Nahem "There is a new and talented wave of artists emanating from all corners of the rich cultural tapestry known as Africa. We are excited to share in this exploration of contemporary work from a small group of artists from the diaspora, whose diversity lends itself to age, gender, roots and geography. Their new world is ideally one that opens us up to our own concept of the newness of Africa today. We are excited to provide such a forum and hopefully to be a meeting ground and catalyst for its growth and dissemination."
* * *
Edward Tyler Nahem Fine Art announces No Such Place: Contemporary African Artists in America curated by Larry Ossei-Mensah and Dexter Wimberly, a group exhibition that highlights recent work by nine contemporary African artists living and working in the United States.
The exhibition’s curators, Larry Ossei-Mensah and Dexter Wimberly, seek to initiate a nuanced discussion about "Africaness" in the context of contemporary culture. By including multi-generational artists from African countries as varied as Egypt, Ghana, Kenya, Nigeria, Senegal, South Africa, and Zimbabwe, they seek to further debunk the idea of Africa as a singular, monolithic "place". The exhibition highlights artists who express cultural duality and punctuates the complexities of African identity.
In stating, "There is no such thing as contemporary African art – there is only contemporary art from Africa,” Bisi Silva, independent curator and founder/director of the Centre for Contemporary Art in Lagos, Nigeria warns against generic geographical descriptions of art from a continent that is so vast and diverse. Taking a cue from Silva’s significant statement, No Such Place investigates the overlapping signifiers and great diversity present in these particular artists’ work, providing a space that fosters a broader dialogue about culture, aesthetics, religion and politics. No Such Place dives into artistic intuition, exploring how these nine artists process identity and represent their individual points of view.
According to Nahem "There is a new and talented wave of artists emanating from all corners of the rich cultural tapestry known as Africa. We are excited to share in this exploration of contemporary work from a small group of artists from the diaspora, whose diversity lends itself to age, gender, roots and geography. Their new world is ideally one that opens us up to our own concept of the newness of Africa today. We are excited to provide such a forum and hopefully to be a meeting ground and catalyst for its growth and dissemination."
* * *
Monday, April 21, 2014
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