Until 13 December 2023, Gallery 1957 will be presenting ‘In and Out of Times‘, a memorable group exhibition featuring a selection of 19 leading contemporary artists. In an attractive panoramic visual, the various exhibiting artists take a singular approach to African cultural notions of non-linear time.
Curated by British writer and curator Ekow Eshun, ‘In and Out of Times‘ is inspired by the Ghanaian concept of Sankofa – “returning to the past to move forward“- and features emerging and established contemporary artists from across the African continent and the diaspora. This diversity of contributors gives rise to a multitude of new works, plunging the artistic space into an exclusive diversity of mediums and innovation. From painting to collage to moving image, the works in the exhibition offer an unrestrained immersion in the theme of the richness of African culture.
The contemporary performers taking part in ‘In and Out of Times‘ are made up of new artists from Gallery 1957′s roster, including Emma Prempeh, Eric Gyamfi, Julianknxx, Kenturah Davis, Lyle Ashton Harris and Malala Andrialavidrazana, Shiraz Bayjoo, Tunji Adeniyi-Jones, Todd Gray and Zanele Muholi, as well as returning artists Amoako Boafo, Arthur Timothy, Godfried Donkor, Gideon Appah, Kwesi Botchway, Priscilla Kennedy, Serge Attukwei Clottey, Tiffanie Delune and Yaw Owusu.
To give greater presence to the works on show, Gallery 1957 is staging the exhibition in a large-scale 1,400 square metre industrial space. With a view to amplifying the narrative of the presentation, it has invited the artists to design original pieces that engage in a profound dialogue with the grandeur of the exhibition space.
Seeking to challenge the linear narratives of progress and modernity that once labelled Africans as underdeveloped in comparison to Westerners, the artists’ works interrogate the concepts of time, African diasporic identities and collective memory. In this way, the pieces in the exhibition draw on African cultural themes of non-linear time and on the concept of circular time developed by the American researcher Michelle Wright.
These concepts in the exhibition refer to the conception of time in African cultures, which differs from the Western view of time as linear and progressive. In many African cultures, time is perceived as cyclical, circular and repetitive, rather than as a straight line running from the past to the future. This perception of time is often linked to natural cycles such as the seasons, the phases of the moon, or rituals and traditions that are repeated at regular intervals.
By proposing time as a circle, Michelle Wright highlights its richness and complexity in African cultures, and challenges preconceptions about its nature. This approach allows us to reflect more openly and inclusively on the diversity of perceptions of time around the world, and offers new ways of thinking about our relationship with time and history.