"St Bartholomea" | 2010 | photo: Kiki Taira
Statement
"The statues are no longer dead in their cases. Our histories are no longer mute.
The hierarchy of value is being replaced by an equality of curiosity and exchange."
Nana Oforiatta-Ayim
"I came from a dream, that the black people dreamed long ago, a presence sent by the ancestors.
I come to you as the myth, because that's what black people are.... myths"
Sun Rae
The narratives I create in my practice make a direct comment on the fractured senses of the human condition, construction & identity and interrogate counter-historical narratives of speculative futures, their landscapes and of the geopolitical imaginary. The projects either ironises or break the spells of ‘otherness’ by reconfiguring the map of the sensible by interfering with the functionality of gestures and rhythms adapted to the natural cycle of production, reproduction and submission. The works are inspired and lived in my home environments with my family both in Gabon and in Europe. I am very aware of the cross-interculturalism and the plurality of language when experiencing migrations and border crossings in my journeys between home and people. At times the work is political, making direct references to resistance and struggles both in Africa and other parts of the world in which I lived in. Often the work develops into the narrative of the Griots, creating stories and mythologies of the modern teller.
The space of Mythologies (after Roland Barthes) is what I interrogate when using performance through spatio-temporalities towards a body above libidinal economy. Deconstructing and reconstructing narratives to investigate the eternal returns of historical & visual stereotypes throughout art history and how these influence our current societies. Sometimes I use satires and invent archetypes and stereotypes to enact them. Some might find their irreverence dangerously teetering on the fringe of celebration and vilification of the primeval 'other' that conforms to other Western cultural norms of 'native' culture. However it is exactly this representation that I repeat and displace through creative interrogations of self to transform cultural tradition, rituals and dialogues towards a conversation of pluralities and exits. From MamiWata to Josephine Baker to La Venus Noire, we are all myths encased behind a glass wall lit in a museum removed from all our magic and traditions to remain a life of stone engraved in voids. Invaded, erased and interrogated, every work and narrative is different, they are hardly or ever retold the same way. I create my work as a gift and respond to the spaces and people I interact with during the actions, fused in spontaneity, challenged in its concepts, movements and rhythms. My work focuses on this relation between myself and people breaking beyond the boundaries of the performer and the audience without looking for a certain resolution.
Each work responds to the actual space and environment I am set to encounter. The performances are narratives constructed from current political status, working with people, engaging with historiography and geographies, adapting experiences and voice for representations of a creolised cultural dialogue.
The world around me affects every way in which I compose my visual practice. The communicative exchanges and commitment to community and people means that I am deeply affected by states of identity and work towards common understanding. Bold yet gentle, the recent work stems from looking back at my history, roots and the future to create a space of difference and alternativity. It focuses on celebrating voice and cultural identity. It makes a connection between the past and the future by challenging conceptions of origin, authenticity and the ritual by presenting nuances of the political that remain bold and fragile. Following no paths but leaving the traces towards a return, a time-travelling ‘Re-Naissance’ to the roots of family, body and voice that takes a contemporary pinch into African Independence and human rights legacy as much as the history of all continents and their collective myths. It shows an alter-modern view to the space of belonging and beginning that is ever so fragile in the diasporic world.
The hierarchy of value is being replaced by an equality of curiosity and exchange."
Nana Oforiatta-Ayim
"I came from a dream, that the black people dreamed long ago, a presence sent by the ancestors.
I come to you as the myth, because that's what black people are.... myths"
Sun Rae
The narratives I create in my practice make a direct comment on the fractured senses of the human condition, construction & identity and interrogate counter-historical narratives of speculative futures, their landscapes and of the geopolitical imaginary. The projects either ironises or break the spells of ‘otherness’ by reconfiguring the map of the sensible by interfering with the functionality of gestures and rhythms adapted to the natural cycle of production, reproduction and submission. The works are inspired and lived in my home environments with my family both in Gabon and in Europe. I am very aware of the cross-interculturalism and the plurality of language when experiencing migrations and border crossings in my journeys between home and people. At times the work is political, making direct references to resistance and struggles both in Africa and other parts of the world in which I lived in. Often the work develops into the narrative of the Griots, creating stories and mythologies of the modern teller.
The space of Mythologies (after Roland Barthes) is what I interrogate when using performance through spatio-temporalities towards a body above libidinal economy. Deconstructing and reconstructing narratives to investigate the eternal returns of historical & visual stereotypes throughout art history and how these influence our current societies. Sometimes I use satires and invent archetypes and stereotypes to enact them. Some might find their irreverence dangerously teetering on the fringe of celebration and vilification of the primeval 'other' that conforms to other Western cultural norms of 'native' culture. However it is exactly this representation that I repeat and displace through creative interrogations of self to transform cultural tradition, rituals and dialogues towards a conversation of pluralities and exits. From MamiWata to Josephine Baker to La Venus Noire, we are all myths encased behind a glass wall lit in a museum removed from all our magic and traditions to remain a life of stone engraved in voids. Invaded, erased and interrogated, every work and narrative is different, they are hardly or ever retold the same way. I create my work as a gift and respond to the spaces and people I interact with during the actions, fused in spontaneity, challenged in its concepts, movements and rhythms. My work focuses on this relation between myself and people breaking beyond the boundaries of the performer and the audience without looking for a certain resolution.
Each work responds to the actual space and environment I am set to encounter. The performances are narratives constructed from current political status, working with people, engaging with historiography and geographies, adapting experiences and voice for representations of a creolised cultural dialogue.
The world around me affects every way in which I compose my visual practice. The communicative exchanges and commitment to community and people means that I am deeply affected by states of identity and work towards common understanding. Bold yet gentle, the recent work stems from looking back at my history, roots and the future to create a space of difference and alternativity. It focuses on celebrating voice and cultural identity. It makes a connection between the past and the future by challenging conceptions of origin, authenticity and the ritual by presenting nuances of the political that remain bold and fragile. Following no paths but leaving the traces towards a return, a time-travelling ‘Re-Naissance’ to the roots of family, body and voice that takes a contemporary pinch into African Independence and human rights legacy as much as the history of all continents and their collective myths. It shows an alter-modern view to the space of belonging and beginning that is ever so fragile in the diasporic world.