Seeds and Souls
Group exhibition
Kunsthalle Charlottenborg, Copenhagen, Denmark.
—
16 September 2023 -
18 February 2024
Curated by Christine Eyene, Lecturer in Contemporary Art at Liverpool John Moores University and Research Curator at Tate Liverpool.
I’m so grateful to participate in this special group show at the Kunsthalle Charlottenborg in Copenhagen entitled "Seeds and Souls” which, as the name suggests, brings together works that propose “new explorations into the connections between botanical histories, colonial legacies and diasporic experiences.”
My works from the series A Hymn to the Banished , commissioned by the National Trust for Scotland, were presented alongside other beautiful and thought provoking pieces from fellow participating artists Brook Andrew, Shiraz Bayjoo, Sonia Boyce, Ishita Chakraborty, Michelle Eistrup, Sheroanawe Hakihiiwe, Linda Lamignan, and Yvon Ngassam.
“Presented at Kunsthal Charlottenborg, which was built in the late 19th century on the grounds of Copenhagen’s then botanical garden, the exhibition draws parallels between original soil and vegetation – their extraction, consumption, transplantation, and mutation into new environments – and the phenomena of cultural dispersions anchored within histories that continue to impact us today.
The participating artists reflect on these questions through various forms of tangible and immaterial excavations, the uncovering of overlooked and sometimes contentious histories, and through ‘re-rooting’ as a way of reclaiming agency over these histories and cultural expressions. Visitors can look forward to encounter large scale and sculptural textile installations, video and mixed media pieces, as well as paintings.”
View curatorial statement here.
Opening Day
(photos courtesy of Marlene Anne Lough)
Text excerpt on A Hymn to the Banished:
A Hymn to the Banished insinuates an interlacing of imperial linkages between Barbados and Scotland, inferring centuries of social disruption caused by the plantation system and the colonial project. With the forced transplantation of hundreds of thousands of enslaved African people and numerous Scottish, Irish, Welsh and English indentured labourers, systems of knowledge and rituals crossed the world’s ocean currents, building new cultures in the foreign lands of the West Indies.
British imperialism imposed banishment and generated suffering. Yet, deep knowledge and a desire to heal profound traumas elicited practices that relied on ancient traditions connected to the land and the remembering of sacred rites. Annalee Davis’s bespoke box lined with a fishnet captures and holds handmade books, a scroll of banished women, a container of charms, and other pieces. This limited edition explores notions of rupture, friction, entanglements, and the need to belong in strange places through rituals of incantations, charms, and the desire to repair the ills of British Empire-era indentureship and slavery.
A Hymn to the Banished is a secular prayer in the form of a visual meditation recognising the intuition, knowledge, customs, and tenacity of our forbears and their capacity to confront and survive cruel, brutal conditions.
(Photos of works courtesy of David Stjernholm)
