Born - 1979. Nigeria

Lives and works - Lagos, Nigeria.

 

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Kelani Abass explores in his work the importance of material heritage and the archive as a bridge between past and present. The photographic image appears to be the starting point of a multilayered plastic work.

 

Being both a creative medium and a memory object, the picture happens to be dissected and analyzed in its multiple potentials. For his three-dimensional works, the artist mixes original or painted ancient photographic portraits, metallic typefaces and other elements from the world of printing. The work on memory and the importance of archives takes another shape in his graphic pieces: as he multiplies numbered stampings marks on sheets of paper, Kelani Abass proposes a new comprehension of the image.

 

The artist thus brings to light these fragile and personal testimonies of a bygone era of a Nigeria celebrating its independence. The image, studied through its making – its “factory”, reveals its ability to hold and store memory – a multiple, fragmented memory, reassembled, rewritten by the hands of the artist. 

 

Trained at the Yaba College of Technology, Lagos, Kelani Abass had exhibited in Nigeria and internationally. Recent solo exhibitions include [Re:] Entanglements, Contemporary Art and Colonial Archives, National Museum Lagos in 2019 and if I could save time at CCA Lagos in 2019. In 2020, he has been selected to present his work at the 5th International Biennale Casablanca. Kelani Abass has taken part in several residencies and workshops including Headlands Center for the Arts, San Francisco, California and Malt Air, Maltfabrikken, Ebetoft Denmark.

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Photo and text: Courtesy of 31 Project