Lois Selasie Arde-Acquah - Echoes of Mundane Mindfulness: Gallery II, Accra
Gallery 1957 is honoured to present its first solo exhibition by Lois Selasie Arde-Acquah (b.1992 Ghana), Winner of the 2023 Yaa Asantewaa Art Prize, entitled Echoes of Mundane Mindfulness.
Accompanied by a curatorial text by Ato Annan and Katherine Finerty - attached below – the exhibition will open during Accra Cultural Week.
Lois Selasie Arde-Acquah seeks to reclaim the quiet power of repetition by elevating the seemingly mundane gestures of mark-making, cutting, and stitching. Her mesmerizing, monochromatic works are both abstract and topographical, meditating on the intersections of time, labour, and resilience. Through a rigorous studio practice rooted in collective care, the artist pushes the boundaries of what constitutes our individual selves and our enduring connection with the infinite.
On the occasion of the exhibition’s opening on Saturday 26th October from 3pm, Arde-Acquah will activate her immersive installation with a durational performance. Across the span of 5 hours, audiences are welcomed to experience the artist’s painstaking creative practice transcend into a spectacle of stamina and radical presence. We are invited to intimately witness Arde-Acquah’s repetitive and transformative process, listen to the rhythms and echoes of our daily gestures, and discover the sacred potential of mindful creation.
In Echoes of Mundane Mindfulness, Lois Selasie Arde-Acquah seeks to reclaim the quiet power of repetition, transforming a seemingly mundane gesture into a journey, into meditation on time, labour and materiality. She encourages us to listen to the rhythms of the ordinary, to feel the echoes of our daily rituals and gestures, and to get lost in their physical manifestation.
Through the delicate balance of mark-making, cutting, and stitching, patterns emerge on canvas, leatherette and paper. What if, instead of depleting meaning, repetition allows us to re-engage with ourselves and the world? Arde-Acquah’s work proposes that repetition, when done mindfully, can lead to new ways of seeing and being, creating space for reflection and growth.
- Excerpt from curatorial text by Ato Annan and Katherine Finerty
Download the Press Release for the full Curatorial text and for more information.