Autumn Wallace. 40 Knots and How to Tie Them

About

Taking its title from an instructional rope-binding book, Wallace draws an analogy between the complex and intricate nature of knots and relational dynamics; two systems of codependence that are reliant on friction, and which, when formed, become weight-bearing masses. The analogy forms an entry point to Wallace’s macrocosm, populated by a web of interconnected characters who give way to a rigorous re-interpretation of value systems, identity politics and institutional hierarchies. Cast in neo-mythologic vignettes, Wallace’s characters inhabit a land which transcends time and space. Taking on the narrative qualities of fables, the stories act as warnings, prophecies and moral tales in service of alternative experience, particularly of the black Femme and diasporic community. Scavenging a range of historic sources and accounts – from religious iconography and folkloric knowledge to German Expressionism and the ornate sensibilities of Byzantine aesthetics – Wallace’s heavily research-based practice confounds existing stereotypes, instead offering more open-ended and multi-layered propositions.