Gallery 1957’s inaugural exhibition ‘My Mother’s Wardrobe’ presents new work by artist Serge Attukwei Clottey. Founded in Accra by collector Marwan Zakhem, Gallery 1957 is a new gallery with a curatorial focus on contemporary Ghanaian art presenting a programme of exhibitions, installations and performances by the country’s most significant artists.

Based in Accra and working internationally, Clottey’s powerful testimony to his mother in the aftermath of her death will explore narratives of personal, family and collective histories. In continuation of Clottey’s established use of assemblage, he considers the value of material as a tangible experience of loss. ‘My Mother’s Wardrobe’ is a result of Clottey’s residency with ANO,

Clottey’s works examine the powerful agency of everyday objects, with particular focus on the significance of personal clothing. Nana Oforiatta Ayim, founder of ANO, and Creative Director of Gallery 1957 explains: “According to custom in many parts of Ghana, a person’s wardrobe is locked up for a year after their death then released to relatives, often leaving the person’s offspring with little or nothing of the material memory of that person. Textiles and materials in Ghana, and other parts of West Africa — each weft, line or mark — are potent carriers of memory, of communication, and the artist weaves into his sculptures subtle traces of loss, remembering, and of rebirth.”

The exhibition will be accompanied by a performance on Independence Day, 6th March that will expand on some of the themes of the exhibition.

Clottey is the founder of Ghana’s GoLokal performance collective and the creator of Afrogallonism, an artistic concept commenting on consumption within modern Africa through the utilisation of yellow gallon containers. Clottey has performed and exhibited widely at solo and group shows over the past decade, including: The Kampnagel, Hamburg (2015); Intelligentsia Gallery, Beijing (2015); The Mistake Room, Los Angeles (2015); 27th Festival Les Instants Vidéo, Marseille (2014); WUK, Wien (2014); Mohr-Villa, Munich (2014); Ozwald Boateng, London (2014); 11th Dak’art, Dakar (2014); Nubuke Foundation, Accra (2014); Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam (2012); The Drum Ace Café, Birmingham (2010) and at AfriCAM, Napoli (2009). Clottey has also held artist residencies at ANO Centre for Cultural Research Accra (2015–2016) and Kunsthalle Exnergasse, Vienna (2013).

www.gallery1957.com