SHE ASKED ME, 'WHY DID YOU COME IF YOU'LL LEAVE AGAIN?'

 Shimmer, Rotterdam

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Between 2019 and 2022, Ayo repetitively cast her inherited winnowing fan in concrete to evoke the memory of home and her landscape. Two of these ten casts were exhibited during the group show, 'A Door A Jar Singing' at Shimmer. 

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"A Door Ajar, Singing is an expanded group exhibition featuring 6 artists whose artworks connect to entrances and exits in the broadest sense. Joining us over the following months are (in order of appearance) Alexandra Phillips, Lee Kit, Ayo, Melvin Moti, Jo-ey Tang, and Charlotte Posenenske.

We are inspired by the power of artmaking and curating. How it enables us to enter into an encounter, make an individual decision collectively, and when to exit. Exits are just as crucial as entries, as it gives space for someone else to enter and then move on. A Door Ajar, Singing celebrates the deeply connected materiality that communicates over thresholds through different physicalities and temporalities. We hover at the door left ajar, be uplifted by the autumn leaf, replay the voice message, cast ourselves over and over again in material, attend to a memory of land and country, and meditate through repetitive action. We find ways to connect. We let go. Come back. Back and forth. To and fro. Exhale. Sing. Always singing."

 

Photo: Jhoeko

 Exhibition text written by Shimmer