Gallery Response

Raven Dickson
Prof. Cacoilo
Acts Of Resistance
4, March 2020


Gallery Response

  As a class, we visited two-artist exhibitions earlier in the semester. They were Neighbors Near and Far by Ibou Ndoye and Uprooted by Adebunmi Gbadebo. 

Neighbors Near and Far by Ibou Ndoye

   Ibou is an artist from Dakar, Senegal in West Africa. His work ranges from murals, paintings, glass
paintings, and mixed media. The subjects of his work in the Neighbors Near and Far exhibition are sharing modernized aspects of his hometown neighborhood and West African culture with the audience, as he stated whilst guiding us through his work “I’m just telling my story”.The art medium he used throughout his works were mixed media such as paint, various African fabric patterns, and glass. The vibrant colors used throughout each piece of the exhibit embodied the essence of Ndoye’s culture. Some of the recurring themes in the exhibit were self-discovery, identity, aspirations, and cultural empowerment. For example, his pieces Women’s Gathering (2020), Woure (2018), Young Brothers (2018), African Art Dealer (2018), and The Wrestler (2016). Ibou pays great homage to some of the traditions that are practiced within his culture. His work is inspired by what he saw growing up as an artist and visiting his former neighborhood in Senegal. In his gallery presentation, he mentioned how he wanted to share his story with the Americanized culture he adapted to when he moved over here. Ibou’s work portrays activism of the lifestyle and challenges of his culture. For example, in his piece Various Glass Plates (2019), Ibou told us how he purposely chose to make each painting on a glass plate to represent the fragile promises, hope, aspirations some people within his neighborhood had. Another example is his painting Toxoou (Moving Out) (2015), which expressed how Ndoye moved away from his hometown to further pursue his career as an artist leaving almost everything he knew behind. I enjoyed Ibou’s exhibit for the artistic direction in storytelling he took and getting a glimpse of West African culture. 

Various Glass Plates (2019) by Ibou Ndoye 

Toxoou (Moving Out) (2015) by Ibou Ndoye 

Women's Gathering (2020) by Ibou Ndoye 

Young Brothers (2018) by Ibou Ndoye 

Woure (2018) by Ibou Ndoye 

Uprooted by Adebunmi Gbadebo

    Adebunmi Gbadebo is a visual artist that uses human hair in her sculptures, prints, paintings, and silkscreen. The premise of her art is to use natural discarded hair that she collects from barbershops or people within her community and have it as the foundation of her pieces. Overall the subject of her works within the exhibit is to empower and educate others about the history and personal stories of people of the African diaspora. The recurring themes of Gbadebo’s pieces in the exhibit are history, empowerment, identity, and culture. For example, in her piece True Blues: 18th Hole edition III (2020) she uses copies of the old historical documents of the plantation land that her maternal family whose ancestors were located and enslaved on. It was formerly known as True Blue Plantation in Fort Mott, South Carolina, and is now a golf course. I really like how detailed this piece was in symbolizing the progression of the plantation became a golf course, by having the human hair she used dyed Indigo and covering the old slave documents from the former plantations. Aside from sharing a personal narrative related to her ancestry in her exhibit she also shared the stories of others within her community. For example, for her piece Am I Still Dreadful? (2015), she was given the locs of her old track coach named Andrea Johnson who stopped having them after 20 years of it being a part of her identity. Gbadebo raises the question hence the piece title regarding the state of Andrea’s hair still being “dreadful” since, during the time of slavery, matted hair was considered to be “dreadful” coining the derogatory name for the style “dread” locs. The activism expressed in Adebunmi’s work is catered to representing and uplifting the African Diaspora in art. According to Gbadebo, she was hugely inspired by the realization when learning about art history, that there was a lack of empowering representation of African Americans. Her other form of activism is by using the natural human hair of African Americans for her work. There has always been controversy surrounding the hair type of African Americans and using it for her art makes the statement of how it’s beautiful and should be embraced. I enjoyed Gbadebo's exhibit for the unique art direction and personal uplifting connection I felt from it. Also prior to viewing her exhibit with the class, I heard her speak about it and her work at NJCU’s annual Hair We Go event in celebration of Black History Month. It was an inspiring experience and intriguing to hear about her thought process for creating new pieces.

True Blues: 18th Hole edition III (2020) by Adebunmi Gbadebo 

True Blues: 18th Hole edition III (2020) by Adebunmi Gbadebo [Up close shot] 

True Blues: 18th Hole edition III (2020) by Adebunmi Gbadebo [Artist's Statement] 

Am I Still Dreadful? (2015) by Adebunmi Gbadebo 

Am I Still Dreadful? (2015) by Adebunmi Gbadebo [Artist's Statement]

Overall I truly admire how both artists manage to integrate their culture into the art they create and express activism for it in their own respective styles.



3 Quotes:

• “I have always believed in counter-institutions, alternative spaces, and collective environments—new kinds of space are essential in the live production of what Gramsci called counter-hegemony” - Nato Thompson, Seeing Power: Art and Activism in The 21st Century (2015) (p.2)

• “Yes and No. History isn’t a fixed, static thing. It always needs adjustments and revisions. The tendency to reduce the art of an era to a few ‘geniuses’ and their masterpieces is myopic. It has been a huge mistake. There are many, many significant artists.” - Georgia O’Keefe, Confessions of The Guerrilla Girls (1995) (p. 27)

• "The generation of archival objects through the scores creates and open set, in which object, image, sound, smell, or agent can become an element of the set if collected from the environment using the same methodology, thus permitting the discovery of unanticipated elements and associations. The archive demands an engaged participation that overtime must respond to the changing problematic that the archive itself calls forward.' - Spurse, The Interventionists: User Manual for the Creative Disruption of Everday Life (2006) (p. 148)