In 2021, Otobong Nkanga was the first artist to work on the TextielLab’s new 3.5-metre-wide, computer-controlled Dornier loom. This resulted in ‘Unearthed’, a series of four, six-metre-long tapestries that were exhibited in a special way on each floor of Kunsthaus Bregenz in Austria.
‘Unearthed’ transformed the exhibition halls of Kunsthaus Bregenz into landscapes, in which visitors were engaged in a fascinating but oppressive story about earth and water. The four enormous tapestries, measuring 6 by 3.5 metres, depict the destructive impact of humans on nature and the pressing social themes associated with life on earth. The fabrics are filled with references to climate issues, the legacy of colonialism and the refugee problem. In the Bregenz exhibition, the story began on the ground floor with the dark tapestry ‘Abyss’, which shows the deepest depths of the ocean, and ended on the top floor with the scorching ‘Sunlight’. The tight weave of the first tapestry becomes progressively looser in each fabric, until the top of the final tapestry, with its long floats, appears to dissolve into the light.
Much of what can be seen in ‘Unearthed’ came about organically on the loom, in co-creation with product developer Stef Miero. By experimenting together on the spot, the work became increasingly refined and layered. As a token of appreciation for the intensive exchange of expertise and craftsmanship, Nkanga credited the lab and its 'master weaver' on the back of the tapestries in embroidery. The development process was featured in the Secrets of Making exhibition in the TextielMuseum (26 June 2021-8 May 2022). The final tapestries incorporated a rich yarn palette: from metal yarns to brightly coloured PET yarns, shiny viscose yarns and monofilament. The texture of the fabrics was also important: some areas were made more plastic, in part through the use of monofilament. A distinct feature of ‘Unearthed – Sunlight’ is the long weft floats (the loose threads running vertically). In addition, small ‘pockets’ were woven into the fabric. These were then cut open and filled with small vases of plants.
Otobong Nkanga (Nigeria, 1974) is a visual and performance artist. She studied at Obafemi Awolowo University in Ile-Ife in Nigeria and the École Nationale Supérieure des Beaux-Arts in Paris. In 2008, she obtained her master’s degree in performing art from Dasarts, Amsterdam. Her work has been shown at the Museum of Contemporary Art in Chicago, Tate Modern in London and the Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam, among others. Following the development of ‘Unearthed’, the TextielMuseum commissioned Nkanga to create a new work for the museum collection. That became ‘Tied to the Other Side’, in which Nkanga examines the painful consequences of postcolonial structures in social communities, economic relationships and the landscape. In translating these issues into works of art, she looks for symbolic, poetic forms.
‘KUB 2021.04 – Otobong Nkanga’, Kunsthaus Bregenz, October 2021-March 2022
‘Underneath the Shade We Lay Grounded’, Sint-Janshospitaal, June-September 2022
