GLASGOW’S ’s charity-funded art venue, Tramway, will soon open its extensive yearly visual arts programme, beginning with distinctive sculptures exhibited by a Nigerian artist.
This is the first time the Benin City artist Ifeoma Anyaeji will show her sculpture work with discarded plastics in Scotland.
In an exhibition named “Ijem nke Mmanwu m” (“The journey of my masquerade”), the artist has created colourful and intricate hand-made sculptures and installations commissioned by Tramway.
Using her art as a way of reflecting on lost West African culture and environmental problems, she incorporates local basketry, braiding, and weaving techniques, while using the non-biodegradable plastics left in nature as her material.
She said: “I was immediately drawn to the use of waste to create these larger-scale sculptural forms, to make something beautiful that has something to say about our environment and material reuse.
“I constantly reflect on the implications of our modernity’s consumptive systems of mass accumulation, waste generation or social attitude to value and the expiration-date syndrome, cultural assimilation and colonial orientations on beauty, authenticity and newness.
“In addition to metaphorically and spontaneously engaging these ‘old’ plastic objects, I try to emphasise the potency of traditional crafting methodologies, highlighting the mark of the hand through supposedly menial obsolete techniques such as rhreading and loom weaving.”
“Ijem nke Mmanwu m” was funded by Creative Scotland and will be shown from 4 March to 4 June at Tramway on Albert Drive in Glasgow.
There will also be a preview of the exhibited work on 3 March between 7pm and 9pm.
The venue will continue to host contemporary visual art and performances throughout the year, with occasional workshops also being hosted about creative practices.
Read more news and reviews on Scottish Field’s culture pages.
Plus, don’t miss the March issue of Scottish Field magazine.
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