Capillarité, Temitayo Ogunbiyi’s first solo exhibition in Paris at 31 Project, engages the mixture of unexpected forms realised from fusions of elements of Nigerian hairstyles with geometric lines and botanical elements inspired by natural history. It alludes to a plural culture and the artist’s diasporic heritage.
Comprised mostly of drawings on paper, Ogunbiyi adopts the aesthetics of naturalist drawings from the 18th and 19th centuries to reference the colonial classification system of the living world. Ethnological and botanical references in the intimate drawings attempt a fragile balance between personal history and the movements of universal history.
The term capillarity is a nod to the use of hairstyle movements in the works, and importantly, the symbolic evocation of the mixture of cultures made possible by contact, impact, propagation, and assimilation.
Ogunbiyi is a Nigerian-American artist, living and working in Nigeria, as well as the United States and Jamaica. She creates works in various media including installation, sculpture, collage and drawing. Her work is essentially connected to the place of creation and also the space of exhibition by highlighting the correspondences and channels of communication that are created between the object and its direct environment. She has participated in various international exhibitions and festivals including Jogja Biennale in Indonesia, the Dakar OFF Biennale in 2014, the 10th Berlin Biennale in 2018 and the 2nd Lagos Biennale in 2019.
Capillarité is on view from January 17 – February 29, 2020. 31 Project gallery is at 31 rue de Seine – 75006 Paris, France.
See installation view of works at the exhibition below.
Nice