Ibrahim El-Salahi Retrospective @ Tate Modern
I have recently visited Tate’s retrospective of Ibrahim El-Salahi’s works that’s still on until 22 September. I am not going to analyse it here or review it in any depth. I
haven’t paid enough attention to many of the aspects that I’d need to consider.
In my defence: I was taken in by the works. Not all of them. Naturally, there
were works that I liked better than others, works that captured my attention
while others left me cold. That’s the way exhibitions work, at least for me.
And, this particular one I visited as a private person. I tried very hard to
leave my ‘art historian goggles’ at home and to simply enjoy (rather than
analyse) the exhibition. Hence, this is not going to be a review. Not really.
Of course, I can’t quite help it.
I cannot but make connections between his work and what I know about him and
different contemporary approaches to making modern African art. And, of course,
the way that El-Salahi works Arabic calligraphy into his paintings and
drawings, well at least those I like best, has me thinking of the Zaria Art
Society in Nigeria, Natural Synthesis and Ulism (is that actually a term or
does my memory play tricks on me?). In particular, Ulism as some of the work
reminded me of the graphic qualities of some works by Uche Okeke and Obiara
Udechuckwu. In particular Sounds of Childhood I which for some reasons
rather reminded me of the illustrations of refugees during the war for Biafra. Some
of that probably reflects my personal biases (and that’s fine, that’s at least
partly how art works, at least for me) rather than actual relations. On the
other hand, (puts on art historian’s hat) El-Salahi did spend some time at one
of the Mbari workshops, Ibadan if I am not mistaken. So, the connections are
not solely in my head.
This said, there nevertheless
were some works in the exhibition that had me completely ditch my art historian
persona and get lost in the work. Simple visual pleasure. Day of Judgement was
one of them. Love it. The clarity of the lines. The detail.
And, then there is the pleasure
of trying to decipher the little bits of Arabic that made its way into most of
the works in the exhibition. Yes, I started learning Arabic. I am still very
much a beginner so the little bits and bops that El-Salahi includes actually
proof a challenge but it’s very satisfactory to identify some words, to
recognise that a work actually praises God. – Which gets me to one of my quips
with the exhibition: Why weren’t any translations of the calligraphy provided?
Even with the little that I understand I felt it added an important new
dimension. (adjust art historian’s had) The artist not only happens to be
Muslim, he actively engaged with his religion in his work.
Actually, the exhibition does
touch upon that. They identify the crescent shape in Funeral and the
Crescent as a recurring Islamic symbol but do not provide any clues of how
that fits in with the picture being an homage to Lumumba. Or maybe, here, it
really is just the moon? They do inform us that the epigraphy in one of the
paintings, the title of which escapes me right now, is a prayer. And, they let
us know that the Flamenco dances El-Salahi encountered in Spain and that he
drew reminded him of the Sufi dancers of Sudan. Personally, I don’t feel that’s
enough. I think it gets lost. Considering that all this Arabic epigraphy and
the recurring praises of God suggest that religion is a large part of who he is
and that that is inflected in his work.
Of course, it’s the Tate Modern
and not an anthropological institution. Maybe I do spend too much time in the
latter and have forgotten how to enjoy art just for its formal qualities’ sake.
But, that’s not true. Not quite. I very much got lost in some of the works,
just lost in the visual pleasure of following lines and finding details … and,
of course, making sense of them in relation to my own life, once the brain is
switched back on. I just strongly feel that a little background really adds
depths to a work of art, many a time – and may have in the case of the
El-Salahi exhibition. Many of these works are pretty great already, now imagine
how great they might be with a little added background knowledge.
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