Thursday, July 5, 2012

Myths in Manchester

Last week I went to see the We Face Forward exhibition of Contemporary African Art in the Whitworth Museum in Manchester. The first part however was a selection from their collection of tradtional textile pieces. I has already determined that my piece for the Mythology challenge involved the mythological beleif in the power of amulets so it was good to see an amulet covered hunters shirt which I had until then only seen in photos.

But the piece that amused me most was Aso Ikele (1948) by Victoria Udondian.
 

It is accompanied by a leaflet about its history. Which is complete baloney a carefully crafted myth about the origin of this supposedly historical African piece The artists bio says,

"Combining materials and narratives from Lagos and Manchester, Udondian weaves myths and histories into her own textiles, creating her own hybrids and questioning how stories become histories'.

1 comments:

Kristin L said...

... Which could easily be adapted to, "Combining themes from Africa and materials from across the globe, Conway stitches connections hidden to most but brought to the fore via her narratives."