The Art Newspaper features Tina Williams Brewer in its preview to the 1-54 Contemporary African Art Fair, which kicks off on May 17 and 18 with a VIP preview and runs through May 23. This year, the fair is presented online by Christie’s and will have an in-person show as well called Knotted Ties in the lobby gallery of the auction house.
The Knotted Ties exhibition showcases a selection of textile works from the fair by female artists, from the both Africa and its diaspora and and will feature Tina Williams Brewer’s I Come From The Root Over Yonder, 2017. Each artist’s work uniquely explores how this medium has the ability to contemplate “humanity’s entangled histories, challenging social landscapes, and complex realities,” according to The Art Newspaper.
1-54’s Director, Touria El Glaoui, believes that the intricate and therapeutic practice of producing textile works provided many of the artists involved, with some comfort and respite during the lockdowns experienced throughout the Covid pandemic. “Many of the artists…found peace through the repetitive gestures needed to work with textiles,” El Glaoui tells TAN. “There was a meditative quality, a profound therapy within the work.”
TAN’s Daniel Cassady writes, “Knotted Ties will feature a number of prominent textile artists, including Tina Williams Brewer, who weaves complex, narrative “memory board” style quilts; Dindga McCannon, whose work abandons traditional quilting practices and includes metal and paper; Josie Love Roebuck who creates soulful, intricate portraits of trauma survivors with embroidery; and vibrant, dynamic fibre sculptures from LĂdia LisbĂ´a.”
Knotted Ties is free to visit from 15 to 26 May at Christie’s Rockefeller Plaza (by appointment only).
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