Nkanga
Otobong Nkanga
Contained Measures of Tangible Memories, 2009-2011
Wood, metal ceramic, Mica, Black soap, Cassia fistula, Indigo dye, alum stone, video screen and unique piece film (8 min 37)
Variable dimensions
Unique artwork
© Raphael Fanelli
Otobong Nkanga
Contained Measures of Tangible Memories, 2009-2011
Otobong Nkanga
Contained Measures of Tangible Memories, 2009-2011
Otobong Nkanga
Contained Measures of Tangible Memories, 2009-2011
Otobong Nkanga
Contained Measures of Tangible Memories, 2009-2011
Otobong Nkanga
Contained Measures of Tangible Memories, 2009-2011
Contained measures of Tangible memories, 2009-2011
?Contained measures of Tangible memories? is part of a broader project of the same name, one taking different forms and subject to constant change. Wooden modules on rollers that can be moved around within the exhibition space are used to display a set of five natural products: mica, Black soap (Savon noir), Cassia fistula, Indigo dye (Le bleu magique) and Alum. Found in morocco, each of these products has the particularity of being used in a different way in Nigeria, my home country. A part of the instal- lation is a video piece about the use of these elements in relation to my memory.
mobile and evolutionary, open-ended and embodying a nature /culture dialectic, the work explores movement from one country to another: the same products see their history, meaning and uses vary according to the culture they are integrated into. As part of a set of customs ? a fortiori collective ? they echo here my own life and memory.
Fuelled by observation of the everyday and bearing the stamp of autobiography, this work investigates the different roles and usages of five natural materials
That demonstrates the linkages between the individual and the context he or she is a part of; even if this context varies from one culture to another and is, by definition, in a state of permanent evolution.
These 5 elements were chosen because they trigger forgotten childhood memories while growing up in Lagos, Nigeria. The chosen elements have their function and use in the moroccan society but they also had and have a different meaning or function and use in my childhood and society in Nigeria. Some me- mories become so tangible when we see a colour, smell or touch an object in another space, culture and time to provoke a certain emotional and physical state.
