#bleeding takari II

[zimzamkirsty]

Nnenna Okore

Not really related to my work but this is one of my favorite artists who actually helped me also get even more interested in sculpture and installation last year. I sort of forgot about her but came across her again when reading up on some articles since Glen has been encouraging us to keep up with Art news and just read up on people we like and I was researching for other female sculpture artists at the same time. Have not done her justice with this brief analysis and research on her work so I really do suggest looking into her story and her art practice.

This is the website link I saw her at again: https://www.artsy.net/article/artsy-editorial-20-female-artists-pushing-sculpture-forward

Her name Nnenna Okore and she lives and works in Chicago. She was born in Australia but her parents were from Nigeria to where she moved to at age of 4 and grew up in Nsukki mostly. Her original mediums he worked in were oil paints and drawings but found she did not like the outcomes although she was very fascinated with the colors and how they played off each other. She was experimenting with any materials around to create three dimensional work. Exploring movement and finding inspiration from where she grew up in Nigeria surrounded by nature and drawing upon/studying the craft culture and wildlife. By observing her surroundings she was finding her unique take on the world and how she would then project that through her installations and sculptures. Repetitive movements in prominent in her process and these draw from watching people in their daily tasks such as making brooms by hands. 

A quote from her that when working in the three dimensional forms it allows her to completely put herself and immerse ‘in the well of sensory experiences’. This is really cool to hear as it kind of reflects what I seem to do. I let myself sink into that state of being and try to immerse herself in it. I also find a connection with her work from where I was born in Zimbabwe and grew up living in Zambia and going to school in South Africa. In Zambia I was surrounded by nature and wildlife and her work I can connect to it because it reminds me of home a little bit. (not saying all African countries are the same by any means, each country is beautiful and unique with their own cultures and people and experiences and people need to realize that, just have personally had similar experiences is all)

She was taught by El Anatsui (Ghanaian sculptor who is another one of my favorite artists who again got me interested in it) and so her works have a resemblance to his massive works of seemingly moving fabric pieces. The materials she uses often are burlap, wire and paper where she goes through the slow process and techniques of dyeing, winding, weaving and testing and teasing materials into these really beautiful forms that seem to take a life on as their own. I dunno, to me they look like they are moving and alive because of the rich vibrant colors and the materials used which are sometimes sourced from West Africa so there again is that direct link to her upbringing and culture.

Nnenna Okore, Here and Now, 2017, Cheesecloth, dye, wire and jute string,  209 x 203 x 33 cm

You can see how it really resembles a flower that looks to be on the edge of dying with those elements of life from the color coming through. She talks a lot about life and death and the celebration of that.

Above is an installation done at Krannert Art Museum. Okay this is my last one

Another room installation piece that I could not find the name of but she seems to do separate artworks with names and them room installation/site specific work.

Here is a link to an interview: https://www.studiointernational.com/index.php/nnenna-okore-interview-my-work-seeks-to-highlight-earths-vulnerability

El Anatsui, Bleeding Takari II, 2007, aluminum bottle caps and copper wire

Just to show his work too so you can see who her teacher can create.

[saloniharshwal]

El Anatsui - Bleeding Takari II

El Anatsui works with wood, clay, and, perhaps most recognizably, salvaged metal liquor bottle caps and seals discarded by Nigerian distilleries. With copper wire and a team of studio assistants, he weaves these crushed and flattened metal pieces into installations, sculptures, and wall hangings—like Bleeding Takari II—that combine elements of textiles (especially Ghanaian kente cloth), sculpture, and painting. More than visual feasts, these works reflect the fraught networks of exchange between Africa, Europe, and America, since liquor was among the key currencies of the slave trade. Though many have seen references to recycling in these pieces, Anatsui explains that this is not his intention: “Recycling has to do with the industrial process, and that’s not what I do. I don’t…return the bottle caps back as mere bottle caps. They are given a new life, and [I] make them not objects that do something utilitarian but objects of contemplation.”

[carlageronimi]

El Anatsui, Bleeding Takari II. 2007

“Anatsui’s large-scale tapestries are made of bottle caps and foil seals from liquor bottles. The artist connects these materials with copper wire, then drapes the resulting ���fabric” in horizontal folds and hangs it on the wall. Anatsui first achieved international recognition in the 1990s for his work in wood and ceramics. He began using discarded bottle caps at the end of that decade, attracted to them partly for the way their bent forms retain traces of the hands that pried them off and cast them away. Linked together, the bottle caps and foil seals allude to the importance of liquor as an international trade commodity in colonial and postcolonial Africa. The red portions of the metallic surface of Bleeding Takari II appear to soak into the “cloth” and drip onto the floor like blood. Yet the violence implied need not be seen as entirely destructive. Regeneration, Anatsui has said, “comes with blood as well, like childbirth,” and brokenness and decay can also be “a condition for new growth, rebirth.” Anatsui uses the term “Takari” freely to designate, in his words, “any thing, person, object, country, even continent.” Thus the “bleeding” of the title might describe the condition of an individual, a group, or all living things.” MOMA

[amm677]

El Anatsui:

I was researching artists that use unconventional materials for their artwork and I found that El Anatsui was the most interesting of all. I feel that his pieces are very challenging as he uses liquor bottle caps and seals as his material for his artwork. I included a link from MoMA on one of the pieces that I think are the most interesting to look at. He calls it the “Bleeding Takari II”. It states that he wants to “allude to consumer habits” which surprised me when I realized that his whole piece was created from bottle caps. It makes us realize as consumers how much waste we really produce because these bottle caps were only discarded by liquor factories. It makes us think about how we need to start minimizing our waste to protect our earth. It also has larger implications about slavery because alcohol was what the Europeans used to use to trade for African goods. I also find his choice of unconventional material challenging as he uses just copper wire to attach each piece together and flattens or adjusts them to his work.

Source:

Anatsui, E. (n.d.). El Anatsui. Bleeding Takari II. 2007: MoMA. Retrieved from https://www.moma.org/collection/works/116286?artist_id=34619&locale=en&page=1&sov_referrer=artist.

[jeremystrele]

Marion Joseph · Associate Director, Media + Public Affairs, NGV

Marion Joseph · Associate Director, Media + Public Affairs, NGV

Dream Job

by Elle Murrell

NGV International on St Kilda Road, Melbourne, featuring the famed waterwall. Photo – courtesy of NGV.

Marion Joseph has been working her dream job as Associate Director of Media and Public Affairs at NGV since 2014. She’s pictured here with Holly McGowan-Jackson, Senior Conservator of Frames and Furniture, Conservation. Photo – Caitlin Mills for The Design Files.

NGV attracted six million visitors last year! Photo – courtesy of NGV.

Marion and Carl Villis, Senior Conservator of Paintings, Conservation. Photo – Caitlin Mills for The Design Files.

In the office with colleague Georgia Logan, Media and Public Affairs Officer. Photo – Caitlin Mills for The Design Files.

Nick Cave soundsuit installed at NGV International. Photo – Caitlin Mills for The Design Files.

Maz’z office details. Photo – Caitlin Mills for The Design Files.

Maz with Tim Jones, Senior Publicist. Pictured with installed artwork for the current MoMA exhibition El Anatsui, ‘Bleeding Takari II’ 2007. Photo – Caitlin Mills for The Design Files.

The National Gallery of Victoria’s entry waterwall is truly magnetic. This captivating glass-and-running-water feature has been vividly etched in the minds of Australians and tourists entering its doors since 1968. And I’m sure you’ll agree, the urge to run a hand across it hasn’t diminished over half a century, no matter your age. Imagine if you got to encounter that gateway, and it’s promise of vast discovery, every day!

Marion Joseph gets to. But not only that, as Associate Director of Media and Public Affairs, she plays a pivotal role in attracting people to visit and expand their minds at this famed institution.

This RMIT Bachelor of Arts (Professional Communication) and Bachelor of Communications (Journalism) graduate has fit an impressive list of roles into her 33 years. While still studying, she sought out next-level internships, including just cold calling the BBC, and subsequently jetting off to London for six-weeks work (serendipitously taken on, thanks, in part, to the stellar reputation of another Aussie already employed by her responder!).

Marion also up-skilled through community newspaper roles, and later penned hard news and a shopping column for Leader Newspapers. She didn’t miss out on a live-abroad experience either, working in Singapore throughout 2009. Upon returning home to Melbourne, she juggled writing, publicity, and even a retail job too.

An advocate for just picking-up-the-phone or sending-that-email, Marion’s first formal interview actually came in response to an advertised Senior Publicist position at NGV. Since being hired four years ago, Marion has progressed to managing an inspiring team, and to her current role as Associate Director of Media and Public Affairs.

The diehard storyteller dishes on her passion for art, provoking wider introspection, and learning for a living. She also manages to group TDF in the same sentence as The New York Times (expect blanket NGV coverage from now on!!)

The most important word in the get-your-dream-job lexicon is…

Perseverance.

There’s a lot to be said for never giving up. If there’s a job you know you want (I had wanted to work for Harper’s Bazaar or Vogue since I was nine years old, and had collected books on fashion from a very young age to improve my knowledge) you must pursue it with single-minded determination. I spent a lot of time reading fashion criticism of my fashion writing heroes and studying their work. I also spent a lot of late nights in Singapore working on think pieces about fashion trends and movements, trying to find the right language and structure for those pieces, and ensuring I researched the subject matter as much as I could.

When I was living in Singapore my roommate asked me, ‘What job would you come home for?’ and I said managing the publicity team at the NGV, as it would combine my passion for creative writing and promoting the world’s best art, fashion and design. I think when you want something you just have to go for it until you eventually get there. And you definitely will get there with a focus on constant learning, honing your craft, being patient, and never giving up.

I landed this job by…

When I was at university I undertook internships at the BBC in London, the Melbourne International Motor Show, The Age, The Melbourne Times newspaper and Royce Communications.

A friend I’d made in a tutorial, with who I’d had great debates, was working at a community newspaper and recommended me for some casual writing jobs. This turned into a full-time contract at the end of university. After a couple of years, I moved to writing hard news at Leader Newspapers (based in Mornington and Northcote). For two years, I covered all kinds of topics, including a shopping column. I learned from some amazing old-school sub-editors – their vocabulary in writing headlines was incredible and their brutal editing taught me to be succinct and clear.

Another friend from university was writing about beauty for Harper’s Bazaar in Singapore and mentioned that a senior fashion features job was coming up. So I arranged to fly to Sydney to have a coffee with the Editor-in-Chief when they were in town. I was so nervous because that was the only job I ever wanted. But I was also super nerdy/obsessed and had spent a lot of time reading about designers, the history of design and engaging in online fashion forums. The Editor-in-Chief saw I had solid background knowledge and was passionate about the role beyond belief!

I ended up getting the position and working in Singapore throughout 2009. I had always wanted to live abroad and understand a different culture, plus I was given license to think about the zeitgeist of that time and relate those to fashion-focused features.

After a year, I wanted to come home to be closer to my friends and family. I was able to fill a maternity leave cover role at Leader Newspapers, writing lifestyle features on food, fashion and bars. At the same time, I also called Arts Centre Melbourne and did some publicity for them, as well as worked in a knitwear shop.

My Arts Centre Melbourne publicist role later became full-time and I worked there for two years before a friend notified me of an advertised opening for a senior publicist at NGV. I couldn’t pass up the opportunity to promote the NGV Collection and the incredible blockbuster exhibitions. There are thousands of incredible stories to tell on a daily basis about the people and the practices behind the contemporary and historic art and design, and that is a veritable gold mine for a diehard storyteller.

The NGV application was the first I’d ever done, and I’d never had a formal interview before!

A typical day for me involves…

… meetings with artists, curators, and exhibition designers to find the stories within a particular exhibition and then communicating these to journalists, editors and producers. Most of the work is underpinned by constantly seeking out the ‘why’ of a story: why this exhibition, why now and why is this work particularly relevant, significant or fascinating?

There can be incredible backstories about how and why a work was painted, how it’s been conserved, as well as the personality of the artist and designer, and how the artwork came to be in the NGV Collection.

I remember telling David Hockney that I loved his iPad drawings of crystal glass teacups (I’m a big collector of teacups), he smiled and told me those came about because painting faceted crystal glass was very challenging, so he would constantly practice perfecting the depiction of crystal glass by drawing these teacups on his iPad! It is the little anecdotes like that, which are so deeply enriching and create lifetime memories! There are always so many stories and nuances behind each individual artwork, practice, and process.

A typical day also involves staging media calls, facilitating interviews between journalists and curators, preparing media kits for launches, creating content pieces and finding new and creative ways to get the message out about all of our stories.

The most rewarding part of my job is…

… learning for a living. My curiosity is satiated on a daily basis, by getting to delve deeply into the NGV’s collection and asking the NGV’s incredible staff about their knowledge of an artwork, art movement or artist.

It is an incredible privilege to have this kind of access into an artist’s/designer’s/curator’s world… to understand their work or a particular premise behind an exhibition, and what drives them.

It’s also deeply rewarding to see these important stories communicated to a wide public, as the work NGV does is so vital to the community. I think people come to the gallery more and more to see the contemporary art and design of our time and to understand the world we live in. So there is deep meaning in communicating these stories because they build connection and understanding of the world and our place in it. The stories behind the art can provoke introspection and shift our perspectives.

And in a changing media landscape, there are limitless opportunities to be creative in the way we communicate these stories via media. We can do a 360 film of the new floor-to-ceiling salon hang in our European 18th and 19th century galleries or we can live stream a media in conversation event with Ai Weiwei.

We have done some rewarding partnerships in recent times including with TDF and The New York Times, which have resulted in some very engaging talks presented at the gallery which delve into questions like ‘Can design make us happy?’ and ‘Can artists be agents of change?’.

I think there’s a desire for many people to ask deeper questions through the prism of art and design; there’s an appetite to understand how art and design can shape or reflect the world we live in and be a catalyst for very contemporary conversations about politics, race, identity, globalisation, and more.

On the other hand, the most challenging aspect is…

There are hundreds of stories behind every artwork, every new display, exhibition design and exhibition, all very worthy of being told.

And sometimes journalists will say ‘we can’t do every story Maz’ [editor’s note: sorry!!] So the challenge is always finding the right placement for a particular narrative at the right time. Ultimately, this is rewarding because eventually, all the stories find their rightful home.

The culture of my workplace is…

The NGV has some of the most talented, hardworking and intelligent staff who I’ve ever had the privilege of working with. They are all deeply passionate in their pursuit of enriching the lives of the public through the displaying some of the world’s best art and design.

My team inspire me on a daily basis. They are very bright, kind and curious people with exceptional work ethics and are all truly creative and engaged thinkers.  Just this week, Georgia Logan and Isabella Radevski (who have junior positions in my team) presented their kids PR strategy to the curatorial team. It was so awesome to witness the growth of their ideas – their passion and intelligence blew me out of the water.

I am also always truly supported to think outside the box and be as creative as possible in finding new ways and platforms to communicate narratives.

The best piece of advice I’ve received is…

…“You don’t ask, you don’t get”. When I was a journalist I had some incredible mentors as editors who always encouraged me to grow as a writer and editor by constantly trying new things, writing features on different subject matter and generally widening my scope of reporting. I think the pace of newsrooms and their openness to new ideas has definitely helped me in my current role to constantly ask questions, expand and improve the way we communicate.

I always have huge respect for people who take a punt and just call or email. Make that contact because you never know when something will come up – consider the serendipitous circumstances of me securing an internship with the BBC because the person I contacted has a wonderful colleague hailing from the same country and university as I did, or even Georgia Logan just emailing me randomly. She became an intern, then a casual employee, and is now an invaluable part of our team.

The other piece of advice is to constantly read. I read as much news and as many features across myriad topics.  I think this definitely helps with my writing and creative storytelling.

Over the years, NGV has…

… become an incredibly vital space for the community – you can come and experience pure joy or beauty through the art and design in the NGV Collection, understand contemporary life and times through a dynamic program of talks or reflect on the world quietly in our gallery spaces.

It is now a welcoming place for everyone to come and I think Melbournians are rightly very proud of it.

In the next five years, I’ll…

… travel more and see as much of the world’s best art and design as I can! And continue to find new and creative ways to tell stories and collaborate with like-minded people.

Marion Joseph is involved in promoting NGVs collection and blockbuster exhibitions, from The House of Dior to Andy Warhol x Ai Weiwei, and the current Masterworks From Moma: Melbourne Winter Masterpieces, on until October 7th.