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| Reliquary 2 still / Larry Achiampong / Reliquary 2 (production still), 2020 / Video with stereo sound / Commissioned by John Hansard Gallery / © Larry Achiampong / LUX. Courtesy of the artist and Copperfield, London |
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Relic Traveller: Where You and I Come From, We Know That We Are Not Here Forever
Contemporary artists are increasingly expressing their creativity through multimedia. A concern that is also enveloping the minds of young artists is the climate crisis. This combination leads to forms of expressions that attempt to come to grips with issues that transcend all of our minds, that attempt to find solutions humanity desperately needs as the elements rage and the weather is erratic, dangerous destroying lives and homes and cities. Larry Achiampong's work presented at PHI Foundation is part of an ongoing project he began in 2017, Relic Traveller is an example of this impulse.
A British artist of Ghanaian ancestry, Achiampong is concerned with issues of colonialism that we westerners see only from the invader's side. Although he has lived in Britain all his life, Brexit awakened concerns about colonialism from the perspective of the invaded country. Although the climate crisis will bring about completely alien forms of colonialism with humanity moving and seeking refuge in a chaotic world with uncertain resources. You will detect this idea like a subtle spice under the larger discourse that are already older than this summer's crisis of large scale fires, floods, and unbearable heat.
The exhibition that is composed of a series of three interrelated, immersive installations begins at the entrance of the gallery with the floor painted with red clay that spreads throughout the whole exhibition to evoke the red earth of Ghana. The idea is to allow the footsteps of the visitors to create new paths through the gallery space as refugees do and also as new solutions find their way to our consciousness.
In the first space you will see the coming together of two important projects: The Relic Travellers Alliance: Assembly 1 & 2 (2021) and PAN AFRICAN FLAGS FOR THE RELIC TRAVELLERS' ALLIANCE (2017 - 2021). These installations reveal some very expressive and appealing designs in the forms of flags and military like uniforms. Each flag is an intricate story written in colours and forms. The second space, Reliquary Conceptual Imagery (2020), features images from Achiampong's latest film Reliquary 2 that were created by Wumi Olaosebikan a.k.a. Wumzurn. The film combines animation with real cinematography and is the ongoing story of Achiampong's futuristic alter ego that is revealed in many facets of the exhibition. The final space combines series of short films- Relic 0 (2017), Relic 1 (2017), Relic 2 (2019), Relic 3 (2019) - as well as Reliquary 2, - with flags from the PAN AFRICAN FLAGS FOR THE RELIC TRAVELLERS' ALLIANCE.
My impression of the whole is that the artist approaches the issues of our times with an eye towards a political resolution. There is no doubt that in a very near future all of us will have to rally to face unique challenges. It would be fabulous if we could rally around sound politics.
MOMENTA BIENNALE sensing nature
In the context of the MOMENTA BIENNALE the PHI Foundation, in collaboration with the Montreal Museum of contemporary art, hosts two complex installations. On the first floor you will visit a soft reflective space with a spring of water joyfully bubbling among the rocks in a green screen structure, it is spill. Abbas Akhavan wants the space to allow you a break from the chaos of city life. To accompany your pause in this serene space, Akhavan has commissioned authors to provide you with a unique text to augment your meditative experiment. During my visit, I enjoyed the work of Kim Nguyen but a different author will be featured each month.
On the second floor, Jamilah Sabur, a Jamaican artist living in Miami, presents The Mountain Sings Underwater. She uses installations, videos, performances to expose hidden stories about our brief passage on shifting landscapes. She addresses colonialism, but also, we see an emergence of her ancestral roots in some archetypal designs and dances she uses to tell her stories. My impression of her work was that it was attempting to reconnect with the deepest layer of nature that we have called Spirit since time immemorial. I exchanged this concept with curator Stefanie Hessler and she supported the view that I was on the right track in my approach to Sabur's work.
Follow the links for more information.
MOMENTA BIENNALE @ PHI Foundation
The Montreal Museum of Fine Arts is presenting the Korean artist Anne Duk Hee Jordan for MOMENTA BIENNALE until January 2 2022. To find out more about the MOMENTA BIENNALE click here: https://momentabiennale.com/
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