A Vernacular Homage to Architecture and Design highlights the importance of tradition, heritage, design and sustainability. The exhibition focuses on the social functions and information passed down through generations by African matriarchs, outside of a globalized modern commercial practice. The artist’s take the viewers back in time when art existed out of the necessity of who people were, their lifestyles, culture, spiritualism, and when humanity was intertwined in a rhythmic dance with nature.
Using vernacular techniques and textures Annes works incorporate structure, design, and authentic Nigerian symbols adapted from Nsibidi and Mbari art. The use of symmetry in her works is a harmonious display of interactions with balance and indigenous design. Her works are intimate, familiar, and are a representation of abundance and harmony which tell stories about origins and belonging of Africans. Vernacular architecture is a principal theme in Lulama's work, exploring the human disposition in imaginative and stylized ways. Lulama interrogates the pre-colonial African experience through the contemporary mind by studying the patterns used in decorating homes, similar to the practice by the women of the Ndebele tribe of Southern Africa. These patterns serve as a means of communication. Lulama's approach to her new body of works "Remaining Vernacular" is reminiscent of the textures and character of these South African modes of communication. Adams Anne, was born in 1993 in Nigeria and is a contemporary ceramic artist, currently working and living in Lagos. Anne focuses on using her medium and style to change the narrative surrounding the quality and potential of ceramic as an art form in Nigeria. Anne has participated in both local and international group exhibitions and has featured in online publications and televised shows including: BBC News, Pidgin, Daily Trust Newspaper, Channels TV.
Lulama ‘wolf’ Mlambo was born in 1993 and is a visual artist who lives and works in’Johannesburg, South Africa. In her first year of college at the University of Johannesburg (2013) studying fine art and fashion her expressionist and abstract interest asserted itself as she became more involved in her practice. Being a millennial creative, Mlambo has been exposed and known for different forms of expression. She is greatly inspired by two avant-garde South African artists, Mmakgabo Helen Sebidi and Ernest Mancoba. The artist's work has been a subject of group exhibitions worldwide including THK gallery, Group Exhibition, Cape Town, (2020); Undiscovered Canvas, Group Exhibition, Antibes, (2020); 1-54, Online Group Show, Paris, (2021); Nature of Women, Artshesays, New York, (2021).
