Sandra Mujinga / Calluses
21 April - 20 May 2018
Tranen
Gentofte Hovedbibliotek
Ahlmanns Allé 6
DK-2900 Hellerup
21 April - 20 May 2018
Tranen
Gentofte Hovedbibliotek
Ahlmanns Allé 6
DK-2900 Hellerup
Photography by Jan Søndergaard.
Images courtesy of Sandra Mujinga and Tranen.
Images courtesy of Sandra Mujinga and Tranen.
For Tranen’s new
exhibition, Calluses, Norwegian artist Sandra Mujinga presents various forms of
sculptures. Some feature printed pictures of black youngsters sticking their
heads in front of the camera. They want be seen and heard. At the same time
they cover their faces with their hands. They are hiding. In times when
millions of portrait photos are taken, uploaded and distributed on a daily
basis across the globe, everyone –with or without camera and Internet
connection– increasingly gains in visibility. Everything seems to be documented
and registered. At the same time, our new found visibility makes us more
exposed and vulnerable.
The last couple of
years, Mujinga has been preoccupied by a conflict between two tendencies which
–throughout history– have left an ever bigger mark especially on Western societies.
One tendency is increased visibility and celebration of minorities and
diversity as a result of –among other things– civil rights movements and
politics of identity and representation. The other tendency is increased
monitoring, data collection and thus surveillance in an increasingly digitized
society. New forms of both emancipation and oppression see the light of day.
‘Calluses’ means 'new
tissues' or 'hard skin'. In her exhibition at Tranen, Mujinga explores how
different types of skin and interfaces affect the encounter or clash between
the individual and its surroundings. All works in the exhibition are
characterized by elaborate treatment of different surfaces: dark skin colours
that absorb light, transparent PVC that transmits light, and synthetic leather,
which is resistant and hard to penetrate.
The title Calluses
also suggests that the characteristics of a surface are not given once and for
all. Our skin can change over time or be manipulated - like some animals shed
their skin. Daily routines, hard physical labour or sports can harden the skin.
The effects may be undesirable. They may also be intentional. Mujinga is
interested in how this hardening of a surface can be a strategy for navigating
in a hostile or unaccommodating terrain. Like the octopus, which is a recurring
motif in the artist's work and the exhibition at Tranen, people can change
their appearance in order to adapt to specific environments.
By use of digital
filters we can upload other versions of ourselves to the web. By use of
garments we can multiply the layers with which we face the world and protect
ourselves against it. Through hardening of the skin, transparent tissue can be
transformed into an opaque surface.
Several of Mujinga's
works are not just passive objects, which the public can circle around and
contemplate. Her so-called wearable
sculptures made of synthetic leather can also be worn as clothes. In other
words, these sculptures are not just things that can be seen from the outside. They
can also be animated from within. The sculptures are
clothes that bodies can inhabit. They are places to which people can withdraw
in order to disappear from the surface of the earth. With this new exhibition
at Tranen, Mujinga reveals a series of new works, which also serve as means to
conceal oneself in a world, where transparency and visibility are both
encouraging and cursed.
Toke Lykkeberg,
Director of Tranen
Sandra Mujinga (NO, 1989) is a Norwegian citizen, born in the Democratic Republic of Congo, based in Berlin and educated at the Malmö Art School.
Thanks to Rhea Dall,
Head of the UKS, Young Artists Society in Oslo, in collaboration with which the
exhibition is organized.