Preview evening: Howardena Pindell, Ayo Akingbade, Engagement Commission

About

HOWARDENA PINDELL: A NEW LANGUAGE

An exhibition surveying Howardena Pindell’s six-decade-long career, from early abstract paintings to more overtly political works that tackle subjects including slavery, violence against Black and Indigenous people, and the AIDS pandemic. The show takes its title from an essay written by Pindell in the 1980s, in which she calls for ‘a new language’ for people of colour working in the arts—one which ‘empowers us and does not cause us to participate in our own disenfranchisement’.

AYO AKINGBADE: SHOW ME THE WORLD MISTER

Show Me The World Mister is an exhibition by Ayo Akingbade comprising two new film commissions shot on location in Nigeria. 'The Fist' is a portrait of the Guinness brewery in Lagos, where histories of colonialism, industrialisation and labour collide; while 'Faluyi' follows protagonist Ife on a journey tracing familial legacy and mysticism in ancestral lands. Building on Akingbade’s interests in history, placemaking, legacy and power, these are her most ambitious productions to date.

ENGAGEMENT COMMISSION: FORECAST

Reflecting upon the underlying functions of the psyche, the body and where these meet the reality around us, 'Forecast' comprises a video work exploring the collective consciousness of crows and a mirrored pavilion sculpture suspended from the gallery ceiling.