Visual and performance artist Otobong Nkanga talks us through her practice in this video shared alongside her exhibition with Tate Modern.
As a multidisciplinary artist, Nkanga investigates the relationship that exists between people and land through the ways we consume and deplete the Earth’s natural resources. She is interested in the ways in which her practice can talk about the body, the lanscape, and about the multiple ways of understanding how we can be here together. In her work,
Nkanga draws our attention to the relationship between the ways in which we consume and the environmental scars that our levels of consumption leave behind. In this way, she makes us, her audience of people, ocean and trees, aware of the complex economic and socio-political systems that inform the relationship that we have with the land.
In “From Where I Stand”, we see Nkanga working with textile, drawing, photography, installation, video and performance. The show includes older works, and some newer ones she’s made in response to her questions about the land and our connection with it.
Nkanga’s work raises questions about the historical structure of a place, both physically and metaphysically, this exhibition in particular presents us with an interesting perspective on how we relate to the land. To find out more about Otobong Nkanga and her practice, click here.
