|
|
The Essential Art of African Textiles: Design Without End
|
|
 
|
|
Grace Ndiritu (British, b.1976)
The Nightingale, 2003
Video; 7:01 minutes
Collection of the artist
Read about this artist.
|
|
|
In this film, the focus is on the artist manipulating the simplest of props–a red cloth with white flowers. The gestures of the protagonist wrap this fabric element in a series of unfolding movements that transform it into a turban, burka, head scarf, and shawl. In this work a textile affords the individual presented with a spectrum of possibilities that range from enhancing her appearance to serving as something that obscures and conceals. This sequence opens with the undulating, shifting, and rippling movements of the fabric that appears as an independently animate presence until the individual responsible for its movement is revealed. The cloth has a basic repeating pattern and, as the performance unfolds, we become aware that the gestures are also repeated. This modest piece of fabric is invested with a great deal of personal meaning. Ndiritu acquired it during her travels in India and relies upon it to shield her in unfamiliar environments. In this instance the musical score by Baaba Maal, Mi Yeenii (Missing You) and Allah Adda Jam (God Give Us Peace), transport us to Senegal, a land that Ndiritu has recently traveled to in exploring her own creative potential and to take part in the Dakar Biennale.
|
|
|
Back to main page for this exhibition
Back to images from this exhibition
