Transformations

I have taken the textile works 'Hopes & Dreams' shown at Canvas & Cream, London last and created a new Triptych textile hanging.  The transformation results in a new central panel 'Home is where the Heart Is' as the link between the two Hopes & Dreams panels.   Black now contextualises the inspirational, aspirational and historical narratives presented within the work.

‘African Textiles Today’

see blog entry 'Costume for Two' 

Fantastic to be included in this beautiful new book compiled by Chris Spring and published British Museum.  Images of my works ‘What’s Our Story ‘ a textile work commissioned by Brent Museum in response to the touring exhibition Fabric of a Nation. http://www.britishmuseumshoponline.org/search?q=African+Textiles+Today&q=African+Textiles+Today

Peckham Library Reading Group

Reading as a root to drawing and planning new artworks

The first reading group visit.  This could be what I am looking for as part of my project stimulus.  It takes place in one of the mysterious bulbous objects entered from the fifth floor the rounded room is light and airy.  We read ‘A Worn Path’ by Eudora Welty, in sections and discuss each section as we go along, just realised we didn’t discuss the title which in fact is very relevant... Oh well...It’s a beautiful story and the discussions were in depth as we were just five people. 

Next a poem by Langston Hughes, the poets name jumped out at me directly and I mentioned my interest in the Harlem Renaissance artists and explained that this is how I knew of the writer.  The poem ‘Mother to Son’ has hugely universal theme, but my knowledge of the period in which it was written lead me to feel the hardship that had evoked such a poem.

The session perfect, I shall continue to attend and take the opportunity to pick up a couple of bargains in Rye Lane on route to Station.

Poem to Peckham Library

Peckham Library is an ideal place for me to find the stimulation I seek, it's a perfect sanctuary to nurture creative thought processes.

Poem to Peckham Library

Comfortable, Refurbished, Cocoon,

Surrounded by clear plate glass, like enormous screens featuring urban landscapes,

The clear blue sky of today is giving way to a rose pink light that streams in through the metal rafters high up in the modern design of the roof.  

The library is on the fourth floor and the view from the Ladies’ toilet window is expansive. North facing it spans from the city to way-out West beyond the London Eye, taking the Shard as a central feature.

Reading Jackie Kay poems I sit on a seat in the teenage corner as the sunlight dwindles altering the light in the cavernous space.   I am relaxed.

 I occasionally look up from my book to observe my fellow librarians (best word I can think of for users of the library) or libritarians, (no such word) as the move around or occupy the single seat computer desks one behind the other in a row stretching back into the building along-side the window.  All seemed engrossed in their individual research pursuits, and the silence is only broken by the occasional bleep of buzz of a mobile phone, calling for attention.

There are no teenagers here in the corner.

I glance at the titles, Drama Queens, Angel Blood, Angel Fire, Blood Ties.......  Return to reading ‘Other Lovers’.

I can return to reading here in Peckham Library amongst the strong black building supports that stretch at different angles, the strange bulbous bamboo observatories floating above head height (What are they?) and the general quirkiness of the modern architecture.  ‘Going to See King Lear’.  

16th October

Black and White

What's up with the work... none getting done... ideas evolving of a local narrative since I sense the enormity of London my birth place and the cycle of my life Wow it’s been long one and still going on.  Look how old things look in this pic with my father and baby brother, I don’t look happy, and perhaps I’m already aware of the pending disastrous future ahead.

I feel a correlation with living in close proximity to Peckham or little Lagos as I like to call it and the fact that my father came here when so few African immigrants populated the London streets.  If he were to return?!  How would things appear to him now?   He would surely reflect on his experience as parent of a mixed family and compare it now as Londoners are a mixture of cultures with families of many origins and he would fell at home with the amount of Nigerians in Peckham .. wow home from home ?? maybe... these are the lines I’m thinking along..

Birthday banner

To celebrations Bruce Onobrakpeya's 80th Birthday – 

Textile hanging designed by Esbeth Court and Gloria Ojulari Sule from Eslbeth’s Maridadi Fabrics (Nbi, MA thesis); Making up, appliqué patches of wax prints and the sewing by me.  The hanging to be delivered by Elsbeth today at the celebrations.  Lucky her she is travelling in Nigeria right now.

New show

‘Textiles hold strong cultural ties for societies living in the Diaspora’

In this exhibition my works are made up of “fancy” and “Dutch wax” prints, traditional cloth and objects that are closely associated with contemporary and traditional West African cultural costume.  The work aims to exemplify relationships, tell stories and make links to journeys of cultures and identities.   In my practice I especially recycle fabrics from my own wardrobe, collect from other wearers and make regular trips to glean from the cutting room floors of tailors working in local West African communities.  In making my work I also use the latest fabrics, this is an essential aspect of the process which relates to wearers of costume in this country who always seek to dress to the height of fashion by obtaining the latest designs from their home countries or tailors here who stock them.   For me in using contemporary textiles and combining them with the more traditional I touch upon the historical journey, furthermore links are made to the objects and attachments I use as representative of protective elements.

Confronting the Other, 40x40cm mixed media on textile  2012



'Life' mixed media on textile 40x30cm 2012

Out of the Pockets

Their Hopes and Dreams

Whilst planning and carrying out the ‘Hidden Messages’ project in response to ‘Amulets’ in the Cuming Museum collection this new work immerged.  Along with these smaller works in progress.

Dreams

Having selected one Amulet on the museum’s collection website I was utterly amazed when on the day of the project the curator of the collection came into the workshop with a trolley full of what I considered to be the most beautiful objects. The workshops were a great success images and details on myworkshopcollaborations blog see link

Living Water Women



Joined up with local women artists to show at Living Water Satisfies a social enterprise that invests its profits to empower women to overcome domestic violence.  http://www.livingwatersatisfies.org.uk/

Market Stall

Since the end of the ‘Nano Women’ showcasing at the Fashion and Textile Museum, I have got into making specifically for the West Norwood Market stall turning my one bedroom flat into a chaotic 24 hour activated recycling art hub. All the work relocated from my Spike Island studio in Bristol, now lives with me in every room as large canvases portfolios and materials bulge from inappropriate spaces, life and artist existence become one.

I am combining textiles ‘my unworn African costumes’ collected over the years with recycled canvases and artworks to make new saleable artefacts. Also taking more and more daily recyclables to add to ideas of items I can reinvent to include on the stall. The Baby Books and Bibs being my main new products are drawing more and more attention but the other developments such as food cans as pen pots, and along with small artworks and everything else. These can all be seen on my blog http://afrobabybooks@blogspot.com

The reworking of existing artworks is leading to the emergence of some very spontaneous works and it is not unusual for me to be moving from the stitching of baby books to the painting and finding the ideas merge, it’s the stories that are the result and this is an exciting direction for me.

Esther at the Helm

New portrait painting fails to wow the judges as a BP National Portrait Awards submission.

'Materialized' at Brick Box

‘Materialized’at Brick Box, BrixtonVillage 15th–20th March

Launch 19th Feb 7-10pm

Mixed-media exhibition installation to Brick Box, encompassing‘Afrocentric textiles, painting and recycled objects. Work inspired by Dutch wax prints, traditional West African textiles and Contemporary African arts.

Getting back into it

The new work is taking some time to evolve since the move.  Having no studio space I have finally created a working area in the bedroom near the back window.  There is here plenty of light and an uninterrupted view of trees.  The trestle table fits neatly within the bay window shape and the existing work is stacked in an alcove next to this.  It’s all very crowded as I have the sewing machine and essential piece of equipment set ready for frequent use once I get going, also the ironing board and all the materials.  My main aim will be not to let the working space ooze out over of the invisible boundary and spill into the bedroom space, could be catastrophic.  I am restricting the use of paint; hope I can stick to this.  

At the Brent Fabric of a Nation opening October

Costume for Two

I made an interactive costume created in response to Fabric of a Nation, touring British Museum exhibition showing at Brent Museum. It is designed so that two children can wear it at the same time!
My inspiration for this piece is from the bold and elaborate Egungun Oyo masquerade costumes, which are worn at festivals held by Yoruba-speaking people in Nigeria to remember and pay respect to ancestors. The piece is also inspired by Ghanaian kente and adinkra cloths, traditional West African textiles and contemporary African artwork.
As with the traditional Egungun masquerade costumes, this handmade piece has been made out of a wide range of materials, from Dutch wax prints to bottle tops, and from batik fabrics to shells. The colourful strips of cloth move easily as wearers dance and perform, and contain both traditional and contemporary stories which you are invited to read.

Combination

CASSAVA is a combination of previously shown installations, some recent paintings and two works specifically fabricated for the show. Inspired by my daughter Esther’s recent visit to South Africa to see her father and the year of the world cup the making of the South African flag and some thought provoking text seems to contextualise the show within the space.

HLM Costume shown in ‘Three’ at Picture This 2007 and in ‘Voices’ at the Bristol Museum Gallery in 2008 and Cassava – Clothing Art Saying Something and Valuing Alternatives shown in ‘Craftivism’ at the Arnolfini earlier this year, seem to complement each other as textiles pieces with a backdrop of the Nigerian flag.

South African Flag

The Republic’s flag is ethnic in design and concept and heralds an era of optimism, progress and peace for all its varied race groups

C: Considering Cooperatively, Communally, Collectively, Collaboratively
A: Alternatively Assimilate, Absorb, Adapt, adjust
S: SUPPOSING Systematically, Symptomatically, Suggest, suppose
S: SOUTH Africa, South Africa, Africa, South Africa
A: AFRICA South Africa, Africa, South Africa, Africa
V: VALUED Values, Varied, Vulnerable
A: ALL, altogether

C: Cooperatively Communally, Collectively, Collaboratively
A: Assimilate Absorb, Adapt, adjust
S: Systematically Symptomatically, Suggest, suppose
S: SOUTH Africa, South Africa, Africa, South Africa
A: AFRICA South Africa, Africa, South Africa, Africa
V: Varied Values, Varied, Vulnerable
A: Abundance, altogether, alternatives, abundance

May - June

CASSAVA thrives better in poor soils than any other major food plant. As a result fertilizer is rarely necessary. CASSAVA is a heat-loving plant that requires minimum temperature of 80 degrees F to grow. Around the world CASSAVA is a vital staple for about 5000 million people the third largest sauce of carbohydrates for human consumption in the world.

Clothing art saying something and valuing alternatives

Yoruba indigo-dyed cloth: Adire eleko is popular hand-dyed cloth among the Yoruba peoples, who live in Nigeria and the adjoining Republic of Benin in West Africa. Indigo-plant dye creates the characteristic blue color, which is most often applied to white factory-made cloth. Patterns are created by painting or stenciling starch, usually made from cassava flour, onto the cloth before dyeing. Starched areas resist the dye, taking on a lighter hue than the unstarched parts, which readily absorb the indigo.

Gari is a creamy-white, granular flour with a slightly fermented flavor and a slightly sour taste made from fermented, gelatinized fresh cassava tubers. Gari is widely known in Nigeria and other West African countries.

CASSAVA

New show coming up combining previous shows with additional flag works. Took me all week to complete a 2x3mt South African flag and a smaller Nigerian flag on 2 separate 2x6mt stretches of calico to show in Rich Mix mezzanine.

CASSAVA Exhibition text

6th May - 6th June

UK born artist Gloria Ojulari Sule brings her multi-media installation to Rich Mix encompassing video, costume, painting and drawing. As a British woman of dual heritage she addresses a number of themes and aims to dispel sterotypes with her work. A srong sense of cultural identity is achieved through her individual work as well as through a number of project collaborations.

Craftivism- CASSAVA

http://craftivism.net/wiki/About_craftivism

Main Costume. 3 in 1 Egúngún, which can be translated as 'powers concealed' is an annual or biennial masquerade festival held by Yoruba-speaking people in Nigeria. It takes the form of masked and costumed performers moving among the crowd, through the streets.

An Egúngún masker represents, honours and invokes an ancestor. Concealed by his layered cloth costume, the performer energetically spins the ancestor into being through freeform dance.

The main costume combines Dutch wax prints, traditional West African produced batiks and tie dye with mass-market clothing fragments. The piece makes references to global issues of environmental damage, exploitation of labour in the clothing industries and migrant populations.

Gelede Masquerade

'Oju to ba fi ri Gelede ti de opin iron. The eyes that have seen Gelede have seen the ultimate spectacle'.

Gelede Encounter mixed media on board

The idea of Gelede Masquerade has fascinated me since I was at art school in Norwich when I made my first piece of work on the subject.  The costume made up of many fabrics especially blended together to obtain a special look pleasing to the eye the contrasting colours and patterns within the fabrics creating movement before the movement commences that is what I see in it.  I have worked with printed fabrics ever since.  Sometimes combining with painterly surfaces and more lately working towards an idea of assemblages for installation.   Gelede, the masquerade performances of ancestral spirits, provides an outlet in which men play a major role (Drewal 2). This celebration is associated with a deified founding foremother, either earth or water along with a forefather (Drewal 7). The Gelede honors and serves spiritually powerful women-elders, ancestors, and deities (Drewal 9). 

The Vortex of Trash

Open studio went well most popular was the experience of entering into The Vortex of Trash, the prototype being just right for children but a little too small for adults.  Once inside the suspended artwork is spun round enabling the trash materials to run past the eyes and around the body of the participant.  Plan to make a larger improved version.  Emilia, checks out the tops, while Esther and I peer on.

My studio space was entirely inter-active over the w/e with visitors delighted to read the note inviting them to touch.  Thanks to Isabel, Jacob,on left Ruben on right and Jachary above in the vortex above.

Open Studio

I have been preparing my space for Open Studios this coming May bank Holiday.  The installation on show will be of work in progress as I intend to continue with the project for a few months to complete a year with plastic waste as a medium.  Thanks to all the eco conscious good people who have been collecting for me I still have a good supply of bottle tops and of course there will never be a shortage.  I will also show drawings and paintings and other ideas for future work its all experimental by also becoming quite obsessive.

You are invited to: 

Albatross and Yemaja in the Polluted Oceans  Open Studio 83, Spike Island, BS1 6UX 1^st– 4^th May. Artworks, cards and reproductions available 

Yemaya

mixed media on canvas with plastic debris hanging

Yemaya, could be getting a little distraught at the sight of all the pollution of her oceans.  This work is on the subject of her interventions as she serves in her role as the Orisha goddess of oceans and rivers.  Yemaya is the mother of all the little fishes and right now it seems that there is and invasion of debris floating around and its increasing by the day.  What is the world doing about it?  She is getting vexed and attempting to protect the wildlife for future generations.

Pity the Poor Albatross

The Albatross project continues.  Many thanks to all those who eagerly collected bottle tops, and would still be if I didn't put a holt to it.  I have several bucket loads now, preserved and saved from pollution the environment, ready to evolve into artworks with a message.

End of good year

It's been a great year with lots of interesting projects to keep my creative juices flowing.  The completion of the Picture This moving image work and the subsequent exhibitions 'Three' and 'Voices' lead me to seek new opportunities for showing the work in the new year.

     The installation showing a snippet of the film.

Voices Exhibition

Jane Taylor-Bouvard Conserver Bristol Museum preparing manniquin for costume installation at  for Voices exhibition 13th September to 16th November 2008. 

The installation consists of HLM Costume projection showing Habit Libertaire Model, Dakar Taylors and Dakar Building, on a looped dvd with the costume on manniquin in space.

Albatross

'Albatross' is a new work that is inspired by many of the recent artworks by Ghanaian Artist El Anatsui.  Many or his works utilizes found objects, including metal bottle tops to create huge a artworks that harbour new meanings referencing cultural traditions.  'Albatross' highlights the plight of the bird as its colonies continue to be depleted by the build up of non-biodegradable plastic waste materials.  My piece comments on environmental issues locally and globally through the use of recycled plastic bottles tops with which I am making a huge hanging that replicates El Anatsui's works in scale and hopefully splendor.  

'Society Woman Cloth' 

Here it is possible to see the detail and the richness of the work.

My work also makes use of other domestic waste items including net from supermarket fruits and different cartons cut into small pieces.  I admit I have a long way to go to emulate the works of El Anatsui but I have made a start.  I appreciate the help I am receiving in collecting bottles top which makes this a participatory project and move along at a regular pace in terms of when I can get to the studio and get on with it.  I aim to have something to show by the Spike Open studios in May 2009. 

New Moves

Finally the 'HLM Costume' is launched in Picture This moving image exhibition 'Three' with two other artists. The show puts together three very different artists making use of moving image in different ways that compliment there ways of working.  It's a great feeling and confirms just how perseverance prevails where a positive vision exists. Dakar Building (pictured) HLM Costume and Dakar Taylors on DVD loop, are my triple screne works.

Exhibition text: Gloria Ojulari Sule travelled to the Dak'Art Biennale in 2006 ; this trip was an important journey for Ojulari Sule as an artist trying to locate her own practice within national and global contemporary art networks.

 

In Dakar Ojulari Sule became fascinated with the traditional African costume as an art form itself. Intrigued and inspired by the special qualities and pride revealed by the wearer of Senegalese dress and interpreting this pride as personification of true cultural identity Ojulari Sule embarked on a mission to engage in the everyday activity of having a traditional costume made. Filmed in Dakar and Bristol HLM Costume documents an experience of a woman following her vision to immerse herself in the local culture and engage with the city as someone on a home coming.

Picture This, Mardyke Ferry Road, Bristol BS1 6UU 15 March - 19 April 2008

Picture This

I am so pleased to have been select for the Picture This ‘Small Wonders’ scheme, I now know I was one of two selected from 50 submissions, so feel honoured. I am with the help of the scheme beginning to piece together ideas for the moving image project that will eventually thrust my practice forward into new realms. Working with the recorded footage on Dak’Art 2006 and HLM Costume, the aim will be to produce a work that explores my personal journey as a woman of a Black British mixed heritage in search of a sense of belonging, seeking to verify my cultural identity as a West African woman. As well exploring notions of cultural identity I hope to throw up fresh alternative ways to present a visual dialogue around the subject matter of my practice through personal engagement with the new location of urban Dakar.

As a British born I have felt distanced from an early age from positive references to my African heritage and seem destine to repeatedly return to those childhood anxieties around racial position and loss. This moving image project will cover a lot but through a greater understanding of the genre

I hope to achieve a work that weaves together, both cultural and physical, cinematic and architectural references through the rich imagery of urban Dakar, to bring together encounters between, local and global cultures, where the ghosts of history linger amid the realities of the day. My vision is for a passionate visual presentation that enlightens, enriches and puzzles in the way that a puzzle will still be a puzzle once completed.

Up date

'Dressed Up' acrylic painting with HLM Costume fabric


Can't belive it but it is actually December. It has been a while but at least not an inactive time. The good news is that AffirmARTive for LAFTA Looked After Fostered and Transracially Adopted, our participatory art project has been up and running for some time now and the group want to continue and to an outcome of touring exhibition with workshops.

Next good thing, I have gained support for Picture This ‘Small Wonders’ Scheme www.picture-this.org.uk for postproduction support to develop Dak’Art footage this means I can have a quality outcome of the work and support with distribution. So, all fantastic so far.

Afo Juba, Irin Ajo

Images from footage of HLM Costume shot by Maryam Fall. My film on the art in creating a Taylor-made costume in Dakar.
At the Market and Final Outcome

Looking back on the Afo Juba, Personal Experience of my trip I still feel envibed, oh is that a word, well that's the feeling so all good the Journey, Irin ajo, introduced me to many that I am keeping in touch with and plans go one to develop the schools link I worked with Hannah More School on my return and we based our project 'Art for Living' around the Dakar documentation that I returned with and edited especially for the schools works. The pupils made fantastic work and the school is keen to be linked with the Ecole HLM in Dakar so am on the plot for that. Also communicating with Maryjam regarding the HLM costume film and with Adama Boye artist at Village des Arts on artist exchange. At the Bristol end it feels different and more difficult to move things on but I am persevering with finding the best way to develop movie and get it seen. Have given three presentation the final on a great success at the A Bond with Spike Island this received a good response with about 35 people attending.
L

A month on AffirmArtive news

My last day in Dakar remebered in these two pics I spent the day with Amada. Pictured at 'Village des Art's' People seen by the road waiting for the President to pass, see on our way around the north coastal area visiting OFF exhibitions.
The project for Bristol will now take place having having received affirmartive on the funding for LAFTA workshops. These will take place overthe summer at the St Paul's Learning centre. The I miss Dakar but continue to work on developing projects for the future. Have been in studio making work in relation to 'The HLM Costume' and editing film and R & D documention.