Exhibition Info
An adaptation of: I. Chasing relentlessly after fading thing II. The Birth of BLACK, audre marries its indigenous self III. Shadows validate existence (ada and Twin find ground), 2014
Digital image on vinyl and paint
ruby onyinyechi amanze’s drawings address displacement and the continuous search for a sense of place and identity, a permanent home, as something both political and psychological. amanze elaborates on the process of drawing as a continuous transformation, from incidental mishaps to intentional marks or erasures that include photo-transfer techniques as well as collage. amanze was one of BRIC’s 2014 Artists in Residence this summer. This piece is the outcome of a series of daily drawings, seen in the gallery, culminating into a more fully realized and encompassing theme relating to selfhood.
A native to Nigeria, amanze has lived in the United States and United Kingdom. Using alter egos and imagined creatures as cohorts in adventures, her drawings have a sense of the mythic and fantastical, while also being grounded in the very lived and real dualism of being an expatriate. She refers to characters as a family, together representing different aspects of the West African diasporic experience. Neither here nor there, constituting complex layering and a multiplicity of influences, her drawings invite us into a world of tangible thought forms and unexpected connections, filling the voids of empty space with hybrid identities.
For more information on ruby’s work, visit her website.