Curatorial · February 2024
Don't be fooled by our fingerprints
Who are we now: as one, and as many? Refuge in Community, read twice.
Press your thumb to glass and you leave a mark no one else can leave. It is the most individual thing a body makes.
Refuge in Community asked what happens to that mark in a crowd. Who are we, now, as a society: each of us on our own, and all of us together?
Five artists answered with ten works. Read each one twice. Once as I. Then again as we.
01 / 07
Do we choose our community?
I was born on a market day.
Abioja, a Yoruba term for a child born on a market day, reflects the earth as a marketplace where individuals transiently navigate life's journey, like traders in a bustling market: finding balance between individuality and community.
02 / 07
Is it the ability to provide refuge for the lost?
I hold out a cup of coffee to the ones who came to hurt us.
About the attacks on children by bandits and terrorists. A boy from the Igbo community offers a cup of coffee to the evil proprietors as a peace offering, so the children can grow, live peacefully and achieve their dreams.
03 / 07
Is it in the rules we make?
I put my bucket out in the rain.
The fleeting joy of heavy rain, a brief respite in our battle with water insecurity. We hurriedly place buckets to collect the precious rainfall, and in our excitement we forget to store and manage for the dry days that follow.
04 / 07
What happens when one of us stands up?
I get up from my end of the bench.
Born out of the need to fix an old, unbalanced yard bench in his Lagos compound: “I remember watching people continuously trip over at the edge every time someone stood up from the other end of the bench. At first it was funny, but quickly I realised it was a problem that needed solving.”
05 / 07
How do our own journeys shape the story we share?
I ride home alone under the moon, and feel safe.
Nighttime bike rides through our community evoke a sense of serenity and security, as the tranquil streets become pathways to inner peace beneath the moonlit sky.
06 / 07
Can we sit at the same table?
I would pour a cup for my enemy.
The six most powerful and controversial leaders in 2018, hosted to a coffee break by the late Queen Elizabeth. A break from their differences, to embrace peace. A political version of the Last Supper.
07 / 07
So who are we now?
My face, in the crowd.
Celebrating the multitude of identities and experiences within our interconnected global community: the rich tapestry of cultures, backgrounds and perspectives that coexist in our world.
Somewhere in Lagos, right now, a stranger is shouting “don't go there o!” at someone they have never met, because danger is lurking and they see themselves in them.
That is the refuge. Not the one, and not the many, but the moment one recognises themselves in the many.
Don't be fooled by our fingerprints.