LONDON.- Saatchi Gallery, M&C Saatchi Group and Tiwani Contemporary are presenting a solo exhibition of works by emerging Nigerian artist Samuel Nnorom, inaugural winner of the M&C Saatchi Group Art for Change Prize in 2022. Featuring new works that have not yet been exhibited in the UK, MULTITUDE OR MINORITY is open at Saatchi Gallery until 24 November, 2024.
Nnorom’s sculptures are visual metaphors made from offcuts of Ankara fabric, the wax-printed cloth now synonymous with African textiles. Fabrics to him evoke a sense of social structure or organisation that interlaces humanity into society. However, when referring to the "fabric of society" or "social fabric," it refers to the weft and warp interlace of values, traditions, behaviours, identities, religions, and heritage of the human society. This is unique to different societies, as he contemplates on universal identity, socio-political structures, consumerism, industrialisation, and colonial remnants. Nnorom’s use of the salvaged fabric forms a critical observation around artisanal provenance, and the impact of global trade on unified geographical identity.
The forms within his work are inspired by bubbles: entities that emerge, momentarily capturing air until they burst and disappear. He is interested in the expansion and movement of bubble formations and how their characteristics might speak to moments of suspension, tension and adaptation. He works industriously to weave, roll, assemble, stich and sew together constellations of bubbles, bindles, and ribboned strips, reinterpreting the bubble as a tangible manifestation of collective survival, connection, and aspiration.
This exhibition is supported by Tiwani Contemporary and M&C Saatchi Group.
Samuel Nnorom (b. 1990) is a multi-award-winning Nigerian artist whose work poetically crosses tapestry-like sculpture and pre-loved Ankara wax fabric. Currently living and working in Nsukka, Nnorom holds an MFA in sculpture from the University of Nigeria, UNN Nsuka. He has run numerous workshops and undertaken residencies in England, South Africa, Burkina Faso, Senegal and Nigeria. Recent solo exhibitions include Emotional Catch, Tiwani Contemporary (Lagos, Nigeria) 2023; Truth and Conspiracy, Primo Marella Gallery (Milan, Italy) 2023; Points of Departure, Galerie Art Mûr 5826 (Canada) 2023; Politics of Clothes, The Mitochondria Gallery (Houston TX, USA) 2023; Politics of Fabrics, The Guest Artist Space G.A.S., Yinka Shonibare Foundation (Lagos, Nigeria) 2023. Nnorom is the global prize winner of the Art for Change Prize 2022, organised by M&C Saatchi Group and Saatchi Gallery.
