Am I porous or am I imploding?

Tuesday 1 October – Saturday 2 November 2024 | East Gallery

Norwich University of the Arts is pleased to present the first exhibition of the East Gallery Fellows 2023-4, with Divine Southgate-Smith.

Launch event

About the exhibition

Over the past year, Southgate-Smith has used the research-based Fellowship programme to ‘launch a speculative and material investigation into the archive of African expression through craft and design’.  ‘The archive is porous’, Southgate-Smith comments, alluding to the many voids in the official record of indigenous peoples. The resulting history, often constructed through colonial collecting and cataloging processes, she/they conjecture, cannot be considered as representing time or people in a linear manner. 

“Am I porous or am I imploding?” is a rumination on a familiar and ubiquitous form: the bead. Present in all cultures, in all times across the world, and particularly speaking to Southgate-Smith’s Togolese heritage, it holds equal significance for maker and viewer. Five artworks created while on residency offer a set of artifacts for a new, pluralistic history which interweaves the archive, and a contemporary lived experience.

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East Gallery is based in the heart of Norwich, our address is:
Cavendish House
St Andrews Street
Norwich
NR2 4AE