Pangaea...
11:45 a.m.
Pangaea: thus the name given to the supercontinent formed by America and Africa during the Mesozoic Era. Saatchi Gallery, in London, uses the concept to present a group of artists of both continents in the same exhibition.
The most noteworthy installation, from an aesthetic point of view, is probably that of Colombian artist Rafael Gomezbarros (1972). It's made of hundreds of gigantic ants crawling all over the room. They represent the people constantly trying to trespass the many borders in the world seeking refuge from political persecutions. But, above all, Gomezbarros is particularly interested in reflecting those who die or lose all of their belongings in his country.
Casa Tomada, by Rafael Gomezbarros (2013) - Detail
Materials: resin, wood, cotton fabric, rope
Measures: body: 50 x 20 x 50 cm / feet: 90 y 50 cm
Saatchi Gallery
The ants, example of laboriousness and complex social structure, become the representation of the many losses of those political conflicts.
Casa Tomada, by Rafael Gomezbarros (2013) - Detail
Materials: resin, wood, cotton fabric, rope
Measures: body: 50 x 20 x 50 cm / feet: 90 y 50 cm
Saatchi Gallery
The artist uses them to seek Justice to those victims of abuse. The title of the installation, Casa Tomada, was taken from a short story by Argentine author Julio Cortázar, where he says: “Unless a country buries its dead, we will always have ghosts in the attic".
Casa Tomada, by Rafael Gomezbarros (2013) - Detail
Materials: resin, wood, cotton fabric, rope
Measures: body: 50 x 20 x 50 cm / feet: 90 y 50 cm
Saatchi Gallery
In another room, Colombian artist Fredy Alzate (1975) presents Lugares en Fuga. It's an object hard to classify. At first, it looks like a wall that has been curved into a ball, an unexpected metamorphosis which results inappropriate for a brick structure.
Lugares en Fuga, by Fredy Alzate (2012)
Materials: bricks, concrete and metal / Diameter: 115 cm
Saatchi Gallery - London
Influenced by architecture and its multiple implications, his work focus on the precarious urbanisation of his home town, Medellín, although it can be applied to most cities in Latin America. In his sculptures and installations, he explores the many contradictions and mutations of the urban developments by the Governments to adapts the housing conditions of the poor in big cities. His work is both political and poetical. The name Lugares en Fuga comes from a novel by Italo Calvino: Ciudad Invisible, where the author, in his narrative about progress, reminds us that our culture, architecture and society are fragile and always near to fracture.
Among the African artists, Ibrahim Mahama (Ghana, 1987) stands out with an overwhelming installation made of sackcloth bags joined together and used to upholster the walls of the room. The work is the result of the artist's investigations regarding the work conditions of African workers. Those bags were imported by the Ghana Cocoa Board to carry cocoa beans and were then sold to coal vendors. Each bag shows the marks of its many users and the routes done within the African territory.
Untitled, by Ibrahim Mahama (2013)
Materials: sackcloth bags on walls / different measures
Saatchi Gallery - London
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