The ideas for the exhibition are rooted in a body of research that started
with literature. I think one of the key books and texts I was thinking about was
Face of the Gods by Robert Farris Thompson which was looking at altars of the
black Atlantic and I was thinking about his writing and this idea of connecting
spiritual practices and rituals originated in Africa and the Caribbean
and observing how those threads are captured across the Atlantic and how
rituals and traditions can manifest as aesthetics and kind of looking at the
forms of those things whether that's this idea of assemblage and giving
shrines a purpose through building and through repurposing or whether that's
through a kind of rhythmised aesthetic very early in the process I had a
conversation with Ben Okri where I was talking about shrines and I shared
research with him. When he was talking about shrines he said they kind of come
into being through intentions and through action and through happenings. If
it's too neat don't trust it. When I was asked to do a shrine I thought OK
where do I start? I thought it should be a shrine where I
can put energy in. I guess it represents my engagement with my work and when I
say my work my work is based on photographs but really over the years
the photographs are really part of the puzzle the photographs really are just
part of the story and and I think in this context I look more at it as a
storybook. You know I don't use words but I would say I'm much closer to words
than I am to pictures. I think a lot of what you see are things that come about
simply because you start one thing and then you discover another thing and then
you think what about this thing. And I found these seeds the first time I
came to see Grace and you know came to the gallery and it was in the summer and
there were these really beautiful seeds hanging from the tree just outside the
gallery and so I picked them and they dried. This idea of fabric and cloth is
very important both to me as a designer and also in a kind of spiritual context
in West Africa cloth has such an important cultural significance I think
that cloth fabric is also a thread. For me it's so important to have works by my
contemporaries and people I'm very actively engaged in dialogue with and
who shape or form my own practice. My point of communication comes from
abstract painting so that's really a lot about a very tangible relationship to
color and texture points of familiarity for having to do with pattern and
material surfaces but those things presented in a kind of less knowable way so
I would want the viewers to have a kind of curiosity about what they're looking
at and be kind of transformed by the juxtapositions. I mean I've
always been really impressed by Grace's work and we were in a show together
at the Camden Art Centre curated by the fashion designer Duro Olowu. I just
saw her at the opening and just approached her and I was just like
you know I'm stunned by the work that you've made in the past few years.
She had just finished her studies at Saint Martins and she won the LVMH Prize
so there was a lot around her already but to be in that context of an artist
community, I felt like it was important for me to like kind of
acknowledge the fact that I was so aware of her accomplishments and her
focus as it were - you know her craft of fashion you know it's something that
continues to inspire me. I feel like Eric's work has a real sensuality which is also
reflected in the work of Rotimi Fani-Kayode. For me his work is very
important because he incorporates his own Yoruba spirituality with his
homoerotic desires and his sexuality. So what's shown here are four
iterations of Flowers for Africa so you have Flowers for Africa Uganda which is
a large wall piece with tassels coming off that and that comes from
an archival image taken from a really official ceremony in a big stadium when
Uganda celebrated its independence. There is another bouquet which has a
pink ribbon on it which is placed on a pedestal which is called Flowers for Africa
Nigeria and that was a floral arrangement that was handed to the
Queen's representative when she came to the official visits at the moment of
Independence. There's a small bowl in which there's a kind of a ball of small
delicate flowers and that represents Flowers for Africa Mozambique and that
was placed on a negotiation table during negotiations between FRELIMO
the Liberation Army and the Portuguese government. And then the final
pedestal on which is a very slight arrangement - boutonniere
which is Flowers for Africa Tunisia and that was a floral boutonniere that
was placed on the lapel of the president when he was doing a speech in
front of his people during the independence ceremonies. Three things
I've been thinking about also moving through the space which is this idea of
connecting through mind, body and spirit. So the kind of ideas of magic and
magical realism are starting to become integrated into this space
through the works of David Hammons which is a real honour to be able to include
his works in the show and I think it's very important to kind of have no
hierarchies between artists so allowing the writers, musicians, artists to kind of
all have their own space and voice
Well this lovely shrine was put together by Grace and her crew based on my
affinity for sun colours and orange. Grace seems to know a little bit about
my affinity for orange before we even talked she seems like she's aware of my
music for many years. So when I came to the Serpentine a few days ago to start
working on the shrine I saw the shrine was already built! It was
most gorgeous. I feel like I don't know if I could call it a womb but I'm being
cradled by a very soft energy, nature energy. I like parks, I live in New York
City and Central Park is one of my favourite parks but your Hyde Park has got
class. Yeah and there's a river there and there are geese. The sensation is I'm more in
nature than I am in concrete.
This exhibition's weaved together through dialogue with different collaborators
and I think I was always interested in a multiplicity of perspectives and voices
I never want to show a kind of singular vision or a fixed notion it's always
about something that's more fluid it's more shifting and that comes about
through collaboration and interaction with other artists. It would be wonderful
if people can kind of take from this exhibition that it's a community space
for reflection and meditation and thinking.