To him the back (of a painting) is more than a coincidental narrative; it probably even forms the plot of the story. Because Martha actually plays with space in all his works, you could call the work an example of this. But it is more. He is opening a discussion on painting as a genre and so relegating the current terminology – painting, sculpture, installation, etc. – to the past.
(…) like in former Prospects, the triennial “directs its focus southward, placing greater emphasis on art and artists that engage the Global South, specifically from North America, Latin America, the Caribbean, Africa, and the European powers that colonized this region (…).
In her Flowers Series, Gabonese artist Owanto reminds us of how the colonial lens could sometimes go as far as invading vulnerable moments during a female initiate ceremony. One imagines a stranger looking on, into an age-old ritual and capturing private moments created to define womanhood. One wonders if that gaze leaves its own kind of mark, a scar that deeply diminishes the girls’ dignity.
Even now the ‘black sound’ is a constantly energetic and evolving creature. With more and more cross-genre records being dropped across Dance and Pop regularly there is little doubt that black music is the mainstream sound and market leader across the Western world.
The twenty-some works sit scattered around the large exhibition hall and the first impression is nothing less than overwhelming.