The Shadow on the Ground
The Shadow on the Ground
June 3rd, 2016 -
July 21st, 2016
The Luminary is pleased to present The Shadow on the Ground — a solo exhibition featuring new work from Alexandria Eregbu.
Opening Reception:
June 3rd from 7 - 10pm
With The Shadow on the Ground, Alexandria Eregbu offers a meditation on Black mobility, ontology, and embodied traumas in response to an unprecedented three year period of virally witnessing public deaths (and other unjust violence) of Black bodies on social media.
IN THIS LIFE OR THE NEXT, we might find ourselves at a crossroads. Sometimes straddling the fence between life and death (one foot here, while the other remains elsewhere); or waiting to exhale after a previous pause in breath which awkwardly kept us in laughter, (even though we really felt like crying). Yes, sometimes in this life (or the next), we might identify the beloved mysteries time and space to be our ultimate containers— where our very own shadows on the ground, serve as playful, yet inescapable reminders of a certain type of confinement— a type of confinement, which knows no bounds.
With The Shadow on the Ground, Alexandria Eregbu offers a meditation on Black mobility, ontology, and embodied traumas in response to an unprecedented three year period of virally witnessing public deaths (and other unjust violence) of Black bodies on social media (See: Trayvon Martin, Rekia Boyd, Michael Brown, Eric Garner, Sandra Bland, Laquan McDonald, and the Bring Back Our Girls Campaign for the 234 kidnapped Nigerian schoolgirls.)
Frequently employing photography, sculptural objects, and installation, Eregbu strategically summons shared narratives and mythology to address worldliness, politics, familial histories, and the metaphysical. From the epochal site of Igbo Landing to DuBois’ metaphorical veil, her grandmother’s kitchen to the Atlantic Ocean, Eregbu’s unwavering curiosity in mapping psychic space (however tangible or ephemeral), leads visitors within the gallery. Through her acknowledgement of transcultural customs and blurring lines to create additional spaces for simultaneous mourning, healing, and celebration— this investigative process for Eregbu typically ends in the very same place as it always begins— weaving itself through global events both past and present, and relying on intuition to further excavate placehood and placelessness, being Black beyond America, and constantly longing for home.
This exhibition is presented in partnership with ACRE. Support for The Luminary’s exhibitions comes from The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, Regional Arts Commission and the Missouri Arts Council - a State Agency.