Gathering Fragments

Gathering Fragments brings together the work of nine contemporary artists who explore abstraction as both a creative act and a means of questioning how we construct and navigate our world. Featuring Ghada Amer, El Anatsui, Nolan Oswald Dennis, Leonardo Drew, Remy Jungerman, William Kentridge, Kapwani Kiwanga, Atta Kwami, and Hank Willis Thomas, the exhibition reflects on the intersections of history, power, and knowledge. 

At the heart of the exhibition is an exploration of materiality and its potential to act as a palimpsest – a layered surface where history, memory, and imagination coexist. El Anatsui’s Untitled III and Leonardo Drew’s Number 426 exemplify this approach, using wood in ways that recall cycles of growth and erosion. Anatsui’s carefully selected wood tones and bold chainsaw cuts evoke both the richness of African cultural diversity and the scars of violence endured, while Drew’s process of splintering, ripping, and layering conveys a powerful dynamic between order and entropy, mirroring the cyclical nature of existence.

In a complementary way, Ghada Amer and William Kentridge address material as a vessel of identity and social critique. Amer’s Suzy, a bronze cast of a female form, reclaims agency within the artistic tradition, offering a narrative of bodily autonomy through intricate textures and shadows. Her subversive, tactile approach resonates with Kentridge’s Try to Understand this Simple Speech, a layered ink and collage work that reinterprets South African histories. Here, history is neither fixed nor complete but continuously reconstituted, embodying a dialogue between memory and erasure.

The exhibition’s conceptual core is further amplified through Nolan Oswald Dennis and Remy Jungerman, who confront colonial legacies and the construction of space. Dennis’ model cabinet 1b (work set) presents a set of globe models and shelving as a conceptual installation, challenging traditional geographic models and inviting us to see global spaces as fluid relations between ideas rather than fixed images of the world. Jungerman’s Pimba AGIDA ASHOKAN IV builds on this, integrating Maroon cultural motifs with Western Modernist aesthetics, merging Afro-diasporic traditions with De Stijl influences to critique and expand established art histories.

Kapwani Kiwanga’s Astres and Atta Kwami’s Untitled I bring yet another layer to the exhibition, focusing on foundational elements and rhythmic compositions that reveal the often-overlooked knowledge systems underpinning our world. Kiwanga’s hand-made ceramic tiles, adorned with gold leaf, summon the forces of earth and celestial bodies. Kwami’s vibrant acrylic work, rooted in Ghanaian visual culture, uses rhythmic colour and form to echo the balance and tension within contemporary life, blending tradition and abstraction to create a complex visual language.

Finally, Hank Willis Thomas’ Untitled distils the spirit of the exhibition’s critique of representation. Through the reflective surfaces of his mixed-media work, Thomas confronts popular culture’s commodification of identity, prompting viewers to question how societal images influence perception and personal identity.