Opening Reception: October 13th, 6:30pm
It is our pleasure to announce a very special duo show during Frieze Week between Femi Themen, a British Surinamese artist and Fungai Benhura a British Zimbabwean artist. This will be our third time working with Fungai, which we are very excited and proud of, and our first exhibition with Femi following her night residency.
(Quietly) Reckoning opens on Tuesday, 13th of October, and we are delighted to welcome you to the Private View at 44 Great Russell St. at 6:30pm.
The exhibition, led as an installation, combines two practices that push the boundaries of what materiality can uncover. Their works act as improvisations, in part, forms of jazz, that weave difficult conversations, and are able to carry the weight of their ideas individually and in synchronisation. The end result creates an antiphony, a non-dominating social relationship, hosting an encounter, which enables two practices to speak individually and in unison. Thus, enabling both conversations to be opened at once.
Femi’s use of holes, which are a motif throughout the body of work in Winti (Surinamese spirituality) symbolises neither a beginning nor an end, whilst Fungai’s mark making between the paper upon the canvas, creates new openings, without creating an ending. Both artists puncture their materials in order to create dialogue, directly approaching the material and the narrative. These passages, openings, explore their collective interior, as Femi writes:
‘We were sitting on the balcony overlooking the river, somewhere near Botopassi. There are blanks, moments, wording or narratives that my brain tries to sequence – I’m stitching memory. I suspect some moments are for her to remember. Do I have a right to know? (I determinedly thought so). What privacy is she allowed or afforded as my mother? I want to know what happened. After she told me, the words just kind of hung in the air. It felt like she was floating. I wanted to pull everything back down to ground. I guess now I’ve made enough mistakes to understand.’
(Quitely) Reckoning welcomes you to explore these narratives, engage with the artists and enter their worlds through the works.
Subtitle Labs looks forward to welcoming you.
By appointment only:
44 Great Russell St., WC1B 3JL
Work Enquiries:
Jason@subtitlelabs.com
WhatsApp or Mobile +447710347437
