Ali Cherri, Tree of Knowledge, 2021
Beads, cylindrical face in glass paste (Phoenicia, 1st millennium B.C.), coral branch, glazed stoneware, 23 x 13 x 18.5 cm, unique
Ali Cherri, Tree of Knowledge, 2021
Beads, cylindrical face in glass paste (Phoenicia, 1st millennium B.C.), coral branch, glazed stoneware, 23 x 13 x 18.5 cm, unique
Ali Cherri, The Avian Spirit, 2021
Amulet of the Egyptian falcon god Horus in glass paste (Ancient Egypt, Late Period), glazed stoneware, 17 x 1.5 x 8 cm, unique
Ali Cherri, The Avian Spirit, 2021
Amulet of the Egyptian falcon god Horus in glass paste (Ancient Egypt, Late Period), glazed stoneware, 17 x 1.5 x 8 cm, unique
Ali Cherri, Euphoria, 2021
Marble torso of Dionysus (Roman period, 1st and 2nd century), arm of a bronze putti statue, formerly silvered (Roman period), bone vanity, glazed stoneware, 32.5 x 26 x 14.5, unique
Ali Cherri, Euphoria, 2021
Marble torso of Dionysus (Roman period, 1st and 2nd century), arm of a bronze putti statue, formerly silvered (Roman period), bone vanity, glazed stoneware, 32.5 x 26 x 14.5, unique
Ali Cherri, Staring at a Thousand Splendid Suns, 2021
Pair of ocular protheses in glass, moulding in glazed stoneware, 15 x 16 x 6 cm, unique
Ali Cherri, Staring at a Thousand Splendid Suns, 2021
Pair of ocular protheses in glass, moulding in glazed stoneware, 15 x 16 x 6 cm, unique
Ali Cherri, If You Prick Us, Do We Not Bleed?, 2021
Terracotta statuette head representing a veiled woman (Hellenistic period, Cyprus), small animal head in green stone (Pre-Columbian America), glazed stoneware, wood, 23 x 24.5 x 12.5 cm, unique
Ali Cherri, If You Prick Us, Do We Not Bleed?, 2021
Terracotta statuette head representing a veiled woman (Hellenistic period, Cyprus), small animal head in green stone (Pre-Columbian America), glazed stoneware, wood, 23 x 24.5 x 12.5 cm, unique
Sammy Baloji, Mfuba’s Extract. Wunderkammer (Work in Progress), 2020.
Installation of 15 drawings, acrylic paint on paper, wooden frames 80 x 80 x 30 (each), unique
Sammy Baloji, Mfuba’s Extract. Wunderkammer (Work in Progress), 2020.
Installation of 15 drawings, acrylic paint on paper, wooden frames 80 x 80 x 30 (each), unique
Sammy Baloji, Fragments of Interlaced Dialogues, 2017 – … Copper Negative of Luxury Cloth Kongo Peoples; Democratic Republic of the Congo, Republic of the Congo or Angola, Seventeeth-Eighteenth Century, 2020
Copper, 52,3 x 51,3 x 0,9 cm, edition of 3 + 1 AP
Sammy Baloji, Fragments of Interlaced Dialogues, 2017 – … Copper Negative of Luxury Cloth Kongo Peoples; Democratic Republic of the Congo, Republic of the Congo or Angola, Seventeeth-Eighteenth Century, 2020
Copper, 52,3 x 51,3 x 0,9 cm, edition of 3 + 1 AP
Sammy Baloji, Fragments of Interlaced Dialogues, 2017 – … Copper Negative of Luxury Cloth Kongo Peoples; Democratic Republic of the Congo, Republic of the Congo or Angola, Seventeeth-Eighteenth Century, 2020
Copper, 64,5 x 63 x 0,9 cm, edition of 3 + 1 AP
Sammy Baloji, Fragments of Interlaced Dialogues, 2017 – … Copper Negative of Luxury Cloth Kongo Peoples; Democratic Republic of the Congo, Republic of the Congo or Angola, Seventeeth-Eighteenth Century, 2020
Copper, 64,5 x 63 x 0,9 cm, edition of 3 + 1 AP
Sammy Baloji, Fragments of Interlaced Dialogues, 2017 – … Copper Negative of Luxury Cloth Kongo Peoples; Democratic Republic of the Congo, Republic of the Congo or Angola, Seventeeth-Eighteenth Century, 2020
Copper, 62 x 50,3 x 0,9 cm, edition of 3 + 1 AP
Sammy Baloji, Fragments of Interlaced Dialogues, 2017 – … Copper Negative of Luxury Cloth Kongo Peoples; Democratic Republic of the Congo, Republic of the Congo or Angola, Seventeeth-Eighteenth Century, 2020
Copper, 62 x 50,3 x 0,9 cm, edition of 3 + 1 AP
Ali Cherri, Fish Totem, 2020
Taxidermy porcupine fish, 20th century, pole from Salampasu village, anthropomorphic wooden head, metal rod, wood and neoprene tube, 160 x 60 x 50 cm, unique
Ali Cherri, Fish Totem, 2020
Taxidermy porcupine fish, 20th century, pole from Salampasu village, anthropomorphic wooden head, metal rod, wood and neoprene tube, 160 x 60 x 50 cm, unique
Ali Cherri, Grafting (F), 2018
Terracotta statue representing a Sphinx, Nok Civilization, ca. 500 BC; head of a roe deer in taxidermy, ca. 1950, 36 x 13 x 13 cm, unique
Ali Cherri, Grafting (F), 2018
Terracotta statue representing a Sphinx, Nok Civilization, ca. 500 BC; head of a roe deer in taxidermy, ca. 1950, 36 x 13 x 13 cm, unique
Ali Cherri, Tree of Knowledge, 2021
Beads, cylindrical face in glass paste (Phoenicia, 1st millennium B.C.), coral branch, glazed stoneware, 23 x 13 x 18.5 cm, unique
Ali Cherri, The Avian Spirit, 2021
Amulet of the Egyptian falcon god Horus in glass paste (Ancient Egypt, Late Period), glazed stoneware, 17 x 1.5 x 8 cm, unique
Ali Cherri, Euphoria, 2021
Marble torso of Dionysus (Roman period, 1st and 2nd century), arm of a bronze putti statue, formerly silvered (Roman period), bone vanity, glazed stoneware, 32.5 x 26 x 14.5, unique
Ali Cherri, Staring at a Thousand Splendid Suns, 2021
Pair of ocular protheses in glass, moulding in glazed stoneware, 15 x 16 x 6 cm, unique
Ali Cherri, If You Prick Us, Do We Not Bleed?, 2021
Terracotta statuette head representing a veiled woman (Hellenistic period, Cyprus), small animal head in green stone (Pre-Columbian America), glazed stoneware, wood, 23 x 24.5 x 12.5 cm, unique
Sammy Baloji, Mfuba’s Extract. Wunderkammer (Work in Progress), 2020.
Installation of 15 drawings, acrylic paint on paper, wooden frames 80 x 80 x 30 (each), unique
Sammy Baloji, Fragments of Interlaced Dialogues, 2017 – … Copper Negative of Luxury Cloth Kongo Peoples; Democratic Republic of the Congo, Republic of the Congo or Angola, Seventeeth-Eighteenth Century, 2020
Copper, 52,3 x 51,3 x 0,9 cm, edition of 3 + 1 AP
Sammy Baloji, Fragments of Interlaced Dialogues, 2017 – … Copper Negative of Luxury Cloth Kongo Peoples; Democratic Republic of the Congo, Republic of the Congo or Angola, Seventeeth-Eighteenth Century, 2020
Copper, 64,5 x 63 x 0,9 cm, edition of 3 + 1 AP
Sammy Baloji, Fragments of Interlaced Dialogues, 2017 – … Copper Negative of Luxury Cloth Kongo Peoples; Democratic Republic of the Congo, Republic of the Congo or Angola, Seventeeth-Eighteenth Century, 2020
Copper, 62 x 50,3 x 0,9 cm, edition of 3 + 1 AP
Ali Cherri, Fish Totem, 2020
Taxidermy porcupine fish, 20th century, pole from Salampasu village, anthropomorphic wooden head, metal rod, wood and neoprene tube, 160 x 60 x 50 cm, unique
Ali Cherri, Grafting (F), 2018
Terracotta statue representing a Sphinx, Nok Civilization, ca. 500 BC; head of a roe deer in taxidermy, ca. 1950, 36 x 13 x 13 cm, unique
Our presentation is dedicated to the works of Sammy Baloji and Ali Cherri, both of whom have recently had important institutional recognition in the UK. Indeed, major works by Baloji have been recently acquired by Tate Modern and the V&A’s Photography Department; and Ali Cherri is currently artist in residence at the National Gallery and is working on an upcoming solo exhibition at the Herbert Art Gallery. Both Baloji and Cherri reflect on the political, social and economic meanings of museum collections and taxonomy.
These new works by Sammy Baloji mark a formal and technical shift in his practice, while continuing to pursue his thematic lines: an in-depth examination of colonial history, attention to the institutional and museum appareillage that ensures intelligibility and visibility for objects from formerly colonized territories in the Global South, and a history of object collection and exploitation of natural ressources in the Congo.
Ali Cherri’s sculptures pursue the artist’s research on hybridization and assemblage, principles and strategies perfected by borrowing the practice of grafting from the fields of botanics and medicine. Here, more specifically, he summons figures inspired by the animal kingdom, the aquatic world and monstrous fictional beings.