Joomla 1.5.11

Godfried Donkor
Collage
1 June - 3 July, 2011 

Godfried Donkor approaches history equally as fact and as fiction. Fragments of the past are excavated, reexamined, and reformed into cut and paste collage, to subvert a convention narrative and chronological timeline.

In Ancient Gods and Goddesses (2001), three large scale digital black and white prints, Donkor montages the face of Indian and African deities onto the figures of Greek gods. By appropriating the Western canon, ‘other’ cultures on the periphery play a central role. He evokes the universal, human quality of the conception of gods, and  the religions and myths they create. All gods have flaws, love affairs and different physical features. All myths have narratives that reflect or influence history; history itself being a mythical narrative.

The Saison Poetry Library invited Donkor to engage in conversation with the poet Nii Ayikwei parkes to create a series of artist’s books as a visual reading of his poems. Whilst Parkes was born in the UK and moved to Ghana as a boy, Donkor migrated in the reverse direction. The two artists share not only a dual nationality but a practice of creolisation between two cultures.

Miscellaneous scrolls respond to Raining season, E Be So and Constellation. Donkor conveys Parkes’ memories as a boy in Ghana, as well as his own experience between socio-political borders. Symbols of a bleeding chicken and Tower Bridge feature amongst black representations and stereotypes. Identity as a singular definition is here rendered impossible.

Another work by Parkes that captures Donkor’s imagination is the epic poem Ballast, in which the history of the slave trade is placed in a contemporary economic context. The poem is transcribed onto a scroll as fantastical hot air balloons traversing across the backdrop of the Financial Times. The heavy historical subject is expressed as fantasy, again questioning the ambiguous nature of historical narrative, presenting it full of voids and potential spaces for further creative discourse.

The exhibition at the Saison Poetry Library continues into the Southbank Centre's Members Room on Level 6 of the Royal Festival Hall. 

Godfried Donkor was born in Kumasi, Ghana and moved to London in 1973. He has exhibited extensively and represented Ghana at the 49^th Venice Biennale (2001), Pin Up (2003) at Tate Modern and Around the World in 80 days (2006) at the ICA. Most recently he participated in this year’s Krakow Photomonth. He is the visiting artist at California Institute of the Arts.

 Documentation

Prompted by the Festival of Britain celebrations, Art on Poetry is a dedicated season of artists' books at the Saison Poetry Library. Twelve internationally acclaimed artists are given a rare opportunity to draw upon Southbank Centre's archives and re-consider British identity sixty years on.

The Saison Poetry Library is situated on the fifth level of the Royal Festival Hall and open from Tuesday to Sunday, 11am - 8pm.  

Open: Tuesday to Sunday, 11am - 8pm.

Saison Poetry Library
Level 5
Royal Festival Hall
London SE1 8XX

Phone: 020 7921 0943 / 020 7921 0664

Underground stations: Waterloo & Embankment
Railway stations: Waterloo, Waterloo East & Charing Cross

This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it  | www.poetrylibrary.org.uk | http://www.southbankcentre.co.uk/