By John Owoo
(In Accra – Ghana)
“Echoes of Mundane Mindfulness”, an exhibition by Lois Selasie Arde-Acquah that is characterised by replication alongside painting, drawing, cutting and sewing is on show at Gallery 1957 in Accra.
Indeed, her practice purports that repetition – when meticulously executed – can lead to new ways of appreciation, collaboration, growth and creating space for reflection while questioning the impact of these reiterative actions on the body and mind.
Curated by Ato Annan and Katherine Finerty, the exhibition boasts of over 30,000 black and white sheets of hand-cut paper put together in installations of varying sizes and shapes that turned the exhibition hall into a sort of forest thereby revealing the inner workings of her monochromatic mind.
Exuding reminiscence of the black forests of Ramten Skov (Denmark), the artist inundated the exhibition hall with her installations on the walls, roof and floors thereby turning the space into one of elegance and wealth but also that of mourning, magic and darkness.
Through the quiet power of repetition and seemingly mundane gestures such as mark-making, cutting and stitching were elevated into hypnotic works, which are both abstract and topographical. Undeniably, each piece meditates on the intersections of time, labor and resilience.
Each mark made, line drawn, incision and stitch sewn are not merely mechanical actions. They are imbued with intention. Over time, the resonant movements shift from being enactments of manual labour to something more meditative. Indeed, the body becomes synchronised with the rhythm of the work and the mind moves into a state of heightened awareness.
A proud winner of the 2023 Yaa Asantewaa Art Prize, Arde-Acquah’s work resonates with tradition, as her intricate patterns demonstrate how small and monotonous gestures can accumulate into something much more expansive.
“Echoes of Mundane Mindfulness” is an invitation to look closer and to internalise the sacred potential of ordinary actions. The artists challenges us to reconsider the mundane and find beauty, meaning and depth in iteration.
It ends on Saturday January 11, 2025.
