Paperback, full colour, 14 pages, W239 x H191mm
These video works by British artist Grace Ndiritu are being exhibited in
Italy
for the first time at the Venice Biennale. Both joyful and unsettling, they
raise serious global issues, making bold statements
through an extraordinary combination of composition, simple actions and music.
Projected onto the altar, The
Nightingale becomes a powerful installation, in this context, alluding to
images of the Madonna that occur in Renaissance paintings. Originally based on
a story of unrequited love – the title making reference to the bird famous for
its beautiful, sad song – the video explores issues of cultural stereotyping
and the disconnection between the East and West. The beginning of The Nightingale is peaceful and serene,
showing Ndiritu slowly moving a cloth over her head and shoulders, to reveal
her face, her eyes closed. A soundtrack of quiet African music suddenly changes
and the artist becomes animated, her eyes wide open, focused on the viewer,
twisting, wrapping and folding the fabric with simple movements to transform
her appearance.
Each action reveals another identity
in a sequence of references to an assortment of
cultures, the fabric playing the role of blindfold,
hajib, headscarf, burka, veil, bandanna, purdah, gag and turban.