Cashew-head Person
2023, mops, hair extensions, cashew branches, variable dimensions (7 pieces)
in collaboration with Anita Amesimeku
The work is part of a series dedicated to the organic library of the cashew, and brings together recurring elements of the Ghanaian landscape: mops and extensions. The latter have been braided along the fibers of the mop, in an attempt to reproduce magnified views of the cashew’s insight. A reference to the preservation of agricultural knowledge during the forced transoceanic migration, by the insertion of seeds from the places of origin into the braided hair. A heritage that help, later in the Americas, this people to free themselves from slavery.
Exhibition
The Legend of Cashew-head Persons, 2023, Former FORIG, KNUST, Kumasi (Ghana), curated by Zoe KɔKɔɔ
Atiāa Duase. A-signifying Allegory, 2023, Department of Animal Science and Technology, KNUST, Kumasi (Ghana), curated by Zoe KɔKɔɔ
Description
“Cashew-head Persons” is part of a series of works dedicated to the organic library of the cashew. It is a sculptural installation of seven mop braided subjects that conveys the healing knowledge of that plant. Using the braid technique, the magnified views of the inside of cashew leaves – which appear abstract to human beings’ senses – are reproduced. The impossibility of depicting them rigorously, abstracts the reality underlying how the knowledge production process function.
The artwork alludes to magical female power and the spread and protection of wisdom embedded in the relationship between humans and plants in the diasporic processes and in Maroon’s redemption.
Sort of Medusa, with their petrifying gaze, they metaphorically metamorphose the visitors into stone, inverting the roles of beings and sculptures.
Image Credits
Category
- Installation
