18th January – 24th February 2024
Dual Show with Natasha Burton at Addis Fine Art London, 21 Eastcastle St, London.
The Grounds From Which We Grow is Natasha Burton and Femi Themen’s first duo-exhibition, featuring their most recent sculptural and painterly works exploring the impact of navigating heritage and home from intergenerational and transhistorical black perspectives. Seeking to find love and belonging, there is a drive to recognise struggles and celebrate worth.
Each artist draws from their own cultural and familial roots to interrogate Afro-diasporic histories; both collective and individual, and work to challenge formalistic and philosophical anti-blackness through practices of West-African spiritualities, post-colonial mythology and community. The artists explore their dreams, beliefs, ideologies and memories to find hope and healing in the face of Europe’s colonial legacies.
Words by Natasha Burton and Femi Themen
Photography by Lucy Emms
Exhibiting work:
She Listens. 2023 Oil paint, charcoal and photo transfer on canvas
105 x 117 cm
If this is what you want to hear, I’ll say it. 2024Steel, weave sew-ins, silver, banana leaves, bubblewrap, chocolate
11 x 100 x 5.5 cm
As Long as These Ropes Unravel. 2023
Wood, twine, clay, soil, cocoa powder
270 x 400 x 500 cm (dimensions variable)
New Geographies. 2023
Oil paint, charcoal and photo transfer on wood
28 x 25 x 2 cm and 20 x 14 x 2 cm