Otobong Nkanga: We Come from Fire and Return to Fire

For her inaugural exhibition with Lisson Gallery, Otobong Nkanga presents new sculptural objects, tapestries and a sound installation, as well as wall-hung and floor-based works – combining materials as diverse as clay, rope, glass, wood, textiles, oils and herbs. As an evocation of natural environments, Nkanga incorporates the images and properties of various stones and minerals into a new, monumental carpet, while towers of raku-fired ceramics create intermittent forests of scorched tree trunks. For every suggestion of destruction – a parched or ruined landscape – there is also the possibility of hope and renewal in the same space – a pool of rejuvenative liquid, the scent of essential oils or a purifying powder.