Neo-Custodians: Woven Narratives of Heritage, Cultural Memory, and Belonging

Neo Custodians: Woven Narratives of Heritage, Cultural Memory, and Belonging builds on, as well as expands on the conceptual function of textiles in exploring cultural practices, histories, heritage, and notions of belonging within the African and diasporic canon. Referencing existing textile pedagogies, the exhibition showcases the works of artists whose practices are informed by African textiles and cultural memory, such as El Anatsui, Yinka Shonibare, Seydou Keita, Sanaa Gateja, Nnenna Okore, Celeste Butler, Marlene Barnett, Ron Norsworthy, Enam Gbewonyo, Patrick Quarm, and Layo Bright.

Centering the social, cultural, and political histories of textiles, it encourages the viewer to look beyond the aesthetic qualities and delve deeper into the agency of materials. The collective works of the featured artists create a space where the past and the present coalesce, providing a lens through which the viewer can discover, question, process, heal, and find self. It is this recontextualization of ideas that will lead to an emergence of discourse that is not only separate from canon but specific to African cultural and historical heritage as it continues to evolve. In addition, this reframing has the potential to spark a movement that re-examines the broader contextual understanding of materiality across different cultures.