Iconomorphosis describes the transformation of meaning through works of art that conceal their message until placed in a relevant cultural context. The eight artists in in this exhibition explore deceptive realities in contemporary life with works ranging from painting and sculpture to film and performance.
They address the tension between internal perceptions and external preconceptions, through visual codes and symbolisms informed by individual experience and collective memory.
Kamalishe Hiraldo, Arlene Wandera and Abdollah Nafisi explore notions of belonging through working with discarded, rejected or repurposed objects and materials, while Taballa Tabasom’s practice is an enquiry into body memory and belonging through gendered and queer perspectives.
Working in sculpture and film respectively, Sonia E Barrett and Blue Smith transform historical objects and archival footage into tools of narrative-making from within a postcolonial framework.
Othello De’Souza’s integrates found objects into his predominantly black paintings as an invitation to look beyond first impressions or perceived imperfections, while the ‘Black Nausea’ in BLCKGEEZER’s work has its origin in the artist’s ongoing experience of breast cancer and chemotherapy.
Whether picked at random or for their inherent qualities, for aesthetic or emotional reasons, the elements that inform the works in Iconomorphosis provide a visual bridge between remembered pasts and imagined futures and question notions of unconditional truth.