anomadiccuration

[anomadiccuration]

60 Words. 60 Years.

An homage to Okwui Enwezor, who would've turned 60 today.

Okwui, oak we

Son of the soil

Born to be free

Son of the toil

Roots aplenty 

Grew to a tree

Fruits aplenty

Seeds sown

God’s own

Words shone

Works shown

Documenta 

Documented

Biennales

Reinvented

Nka nko?

Nsukka 

To Ngor

In life, a light

Shining bright

After life, alight

Shining bright

Out of sight

And yet

Forever

On our minds

[anomadiccuration]

“Untitled” (Unclean Slate)

London, England. 2019

[anomadiccuration]

Art doesn’t exist solely for art’s sake

Art doesn’t exist solely for art’s sake

It’s about human connection

Art is merely the bridge

And not a bridge over oceans but a bridge within

We are the oceans, filled with so much depth

But sometimes it can be hard

To navigate these waters alone

To be drowned, by ourselves, in ourselves

Sometimes we need to be able to breathe

To come up for air

Before diving back

Into ourselves and the world around us

Art can provide space for us to breathe, for us to be

[anomadiccuration]

“Untitled” (Stick A Fork In It) Vero Beach, Florida. 2017

[anomadiccuration]

Education drives out of the mind superstition, daydreaming, building of castles in the air, cultivation of yarns, and replaces them with a rational practical mind, almost devoid of imagination. Some of these minds having failed to write imaginative stories, turn to that aristocratic type of criticism which magnifies trivialities beyond their real size. They fail to touch other virtues in a work because they do not have the imagination to perceive these mysteries. Art is arbitrary. Anybody can begin his own style. Having begun it arbitrarily, if he persists to produce in that particular mode, he can enlarge and elevate it to something permanent, to something other artists will come to learn and copy, to something the critics will catch up with and appreciate.

Taban Lo Liyong, "Tutuola, son of Zinjanthropus", in Critical Perspectives on Amos Tutuola, edited by Bernth Lindfors, Three Continents Press, 1975.

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"Home is where the art is..." Brooklyn, New York. 2017

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It was an emancipatory medium, and offered opportunities to raise consciousness and contest colonial rule. But it has also been riven from the start by paranoia and self-censorship—and that tension has only increased after independence.

Chloé Buire (“The Beat of Dissent” Even Magazine. Issue 6) 

[anomadiccuration]

40 THANK YOUS IN ONE

An amended excerpt from a much longer thank you note I wrote to the photographers who graciously took part in the 40x40 photo project for this year’s International Women’s Day.

To be completely honest, when I initially came up with the idea for this project towards the end of last year, I knew it would be a massive undertaking. But, I had no clue it would turn out to be such a deeply moving and humbling experience. Meanwhile, the captions that were written for each image seem to suggest that this project has also turned out to be cathartic.

The images you've shared and the stories you've told are truly beautiful, to say the least. No one image or story supersedes the other. Instead, they all reinforce each other and add up to something that has taken up an entirely new life of it's own and will hopefully live on forever.

[anomadiccuration]

"Lagos, you beautiful mess..." Lagos, Nigeria. 2017

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We should start from home and tell our stories better.

Andrew Esiebo (“Who Is Telling Africa’s Stories?” The New York Times)

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"Untitled" (Floral Essence) Paris, France. 2017

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If the changes we need to make in society take time, including ecological, social, political and cultural issues, should we continue to venerate the present or should we gain consciousness of the passage of time?

André Feliciano ("The Beginning of a New Era." Floraissance)

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"Untitled" (Art + Artifact). New York, NY. 2016

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Access to art should not require each of us to go out of our way in order to engage with salient ideas, but rather that the privilege of social and cultural dialogue is for everyone.

Jodi Waynberg ("Interview with Artists Alliance Director Jodi Waynberg." Cultural Services of the French Embassy in the U.S.)

[anomadiccuration]

The Subtle Art of Letting Go

An excerpt from a conversation with TheStyleHQ on my recent trip to Istanbul.

Travel is a mindset; a carefully considered approach to life that requires you to find comfort in ambiguity and in return rewards you with discovering the familiar in the unfamiliar. Literally and figuratively, traveling is about finding yourself elsewhere. It’s less about going, but being; being present in the moment, being responsive to intuitive leads, and being able to let go.

[anomadiccuration]

"Untitled" (A Reflective Moment) Brooklyn, New York. 2016

[anomadiccuration]

All mathematics is design, the design of nature, the design of the abstract world, because a design is abstract. Higher mathematics is merely a study of design, and that is why the mathematician sees his subject as beautiful, while the layman sees it as confusion. The layman fails to become conscious of design

Carly Payne Tobey (“Lesson #5: The Reform Dynamics.” Correspondence Course in Astrology)