First viewing: Gallery 1957's Rituals of Becoming

A new and provocative art exhibition is soon to open in Gallery1957 in Accra. Addressing issues as human nature and the duality between the feminine and masculine, the exhibition is bringing attention to the marginalisation of minority groups.

Titled Rituals of Becoming, the Ghanaian-Togolese artist Va-Bene Elikem Fiatsi, who works under the pseudonym crazinisT artisT, mixes live performances, video projections, and displayed items. 

Through Drag performances (the clothing associated with one gender role when worn by a person of another gender), crazinisT artisT strips one identity in order to assume another – the artist seeks to redefine common perceptions of body and sexuality. 

While the video installation will showcase the cross-dressing artist’s daily rituals of transformation, the material installation displays a collection of female clothes gathered and worn by the artist over the years. Collectively, the objects and videos seek to establish a new understanding of self and other, where the other isn’t another individual, but part of the same body.

About the artist:

crazinisT artisT (b. 1981, Ho, Volta Region, Ghana), aka Va-Bene Elikem Fiatsi, currently lives and works in Kumasi, Ghana. 

He received his Bachelor Degree in Fine Arts from the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST), Kumasi in 2014, where he is currently pursuing his MFA. 

About the curator:
Maria Rus Bojan is an international curator, art advisor and writer based in Amsterdam, Maria Rus Bojan established MB Art Agency in 2008. 

EXHIBITION DETAILS

Artist:  crazinisT artisT
Name of exhibition: Rituals of Becoming 
Dates: February 26^th  – March 12^th, 2017
Venue Gallery 1957, Kempinski Hotel
Opening event: Performance, talk & reception  
Curator: Maria Rus Bojan

Address: 

Gallery 1957, Kempinski Hotel Gold Coast City, PMB 66 — Ministries, Gamel Abdul Nasser Avenue, Ridge — Accra, Ghana

 Contact

Telephone: +233 303967575

www.gallery1957.com 

IMAGE: CrazinisT artisT, x in REd, performance at blaxTARLINES, Kumasi, 2016, image courtesy the artist. photocredit: Nii Okanta Ankrah