Emmanuel Awuni has titled his solo show with Copperfield after Maya Angelou’s autobiography, ‘I know why the caged bird sings.’
Image courtesy of Copperfield
Like Angelou, Awuni is a poet. His first notes on the exhibition are in the form of lyrics or poetry. Angelou was known for her resistance and her realisation of self through expression. Inspired by the title of Angelou’s book and the poet’s work, Awuni’s exhibition will extend it to explore culture, objects, music, people, and heritage. While sound and music are central to his art, he believes that any repressed or muffled emotion, no matter the medium ‘sings’ against the bars when undefeated. In these works, colour has its own symbolism and Awuni unpacks this through poetry.
The exhibition statement reads:
“The cage forms a conceptual framework for the show as well as a literal framework, serving as a hanging system for the works. The use of the cage here speaks about far more than human incarceration, though the threat-made-visible here serves as a tangible reminder of that kind of suffering. Cultures, objects, and artefacts have their own voice too for Awuni and he considers what theft, displacement and recontextualization does to that song. If the extraction of an endangered tiger and its housing behind bars is justified as being as much for its own protection as for interest then perhaps the traditional museum is a zoo for culture. For every object that is on display, hundreds if not thousands are in cases and crates in storage in their own kind of solitary confinement. Awuni’s own selection of objects and sculptures protrude from iconic blue packing foam in tray frames around the space, some having loosed themselves onto the floor. Some are handmade by the artist, informed by identity and ancestry, while others are evocative found objects that speak of museology and cultural biases. Whether rightly or wrongly, necessary or otherwise, a museum crate is quite literally a padded cell.”
Ghanaian-born artist Emmanuel Awuni lives and works in London. Awuni had his first solo exhibition in 2021 at Harlesden Highstreet Gallery, followed by a second solo exhibition at Sundy 2022. Awuni’s work has been included in a number of group exhibitions: Nir Altman, Munich (2022); Sadie Coles HQ, London (2021); Royal Academy of Arts, Winter/Summer Exhibitions (2020) and Harlesden Highstreet Gallery (2020).
Image courtesy of Copperfield
The exhibition, ‘I know why the caged bird sings’, is on view from June 23 to August 5, 2023. It will be available for public viewing from Wednesdays to Saturdays (12 – 6 pm).
