Tiwani Contemporary, in partnership with baudoin lebon gallery, presents a show of contemporary African art at their London gallery that will run until the 17th March.
The show, entitled SYNCHRONICITY II, is curated by On The Roof, a platform for freelance curators, art professionals and artists of different nationalities who share a vision for debate, excitement and production. Their creative output focuses mainly on the artistic production of the African continent and it's diaspora on the international scene and France in particular. On The Roof have participated in Arles Photography Encounters in 2010, and they have shown at the Addis Foto fest, the first international photography festival in East Africa. With their participation in the Bamako biennial in 2011, their presence and relevance in the contemporary African landscape was further reasserted.
Three curators, namely Elise Atangana, Yves Chatap and Caroline Hancock, have come together to create a show of astonishing sensitivity and subtle political and social criticism. They are collaborating with Tiwani Contemporary, a gallery that shares their scope and vision.
This is Tiwani's second show after their launch last December. The gallery intends to present a dynamic and innovative public programme that will include publications, talks, artist visits, panel discussions, curated projects and events within the gallery space, in partnership with the Centre for Contemporary Arts, Lagos (CCA Lagos), as well as in collaboration with guest curators and art institutions in the UK and internationally.
Their first, inaugural show, The Tie that Bind Us was a group show of five Nigerian artists from the continent and the diaspora. Tiwani has a particular affiliation with Nigeria, due to its collaboration with CCA Lagos, but its future exhibitions will not be restricted to that particular country. What is unique about this gallery is its programme, but also the fact that the choice of artists is not a personal one, nor is it dictated by western ideas and the established status quo; on the contrary, the curatorial decisions come directly from the African continent and reflect contemporary trends, tendencies and aesthetics. Among the artists represented in the inaugural show were Mary Evans, Lawson Oyekan, Emeka Ogboh, Adolphus Opara and Ben Osaghae.
In SYNCHRONICITY II, the curators of On The Roof have created a show around the idea that different realities can coexist, like the idea of synchronicity in psychoanalysis. Intimate spaces (Mala Andrialavidrazana), the multicultural metropolis (James Barnor), symbols of a colonial past (Grace Ndiritu), political gestures (Amina Menia), and the imprint of time on architecture (François-Xavier Gbré) are a few of the ideas tackled in this show.
