Acaye Kerunen: I Am All These Women

20 June - 6 September 2024
Overview
Portrait of Acaye Kerunen, Photo: Ethel Aanyu
Portrait of Acaye Kerunen, Photo: Ethel Aanyu

Galerie Kandlhofer is delighted to present I Am All These Women, a solo exhibition of works by Acaye Kerunen spanning sculpture, video, music and performance. This exhibition is testament to the evolving conversations of identity, materiality and the power of personal joy and expression.Bringing together a new body of work alongside video presentations initiated in 2021, this exhibition marks Acaye’s inaugural presentation with the gallery and in Austria. 

 

I Am All These Women explores the multifaceted nature of identity, with a particular consideration to the transitions that women constantly embody. Throughout her multidisciplinary career as an artist, curator,  actress, writer and activist, Acaye challenges the narratives that flatten people and their experiences. The exhibited artworks query binary and restrictive societal expectations through frozen dance motifs and contentions inherent in the artworks both abstract as well as in the dolls.

 

A key component of Acaye’s artwork is materiality. Raffia, banana fibre, dried grass, stripped banana rind and palm leaves are hand-sewn, braided, knotted and rewoven as large-scale dolls, wall-based installations and free-standing sculptures. These works visually amalgamate personal, and lived experiences with material storytelling. All the natural materials in the artwork have evolved through artistic creativity into intricate assemblages that celebrate the durable yet diverse paths of life. 

 

Text by Alice Acland

 
Works
Press release
Galerie Kandlhofer is delighted to present I Am All These Women, a solo exhibition of works by Acaye Kerunen spanning sculpture, video, music and performance. This exhibition is testament to the evolving conversations of identity, materiality and the power of personal joy and expression.Bringing together a new body of work alongside video presentations initiated in 2021, this exhibition marks Acaye’s inaugural presentation with the gallery and in Austria. 
 
I Am All These Women explores the multifaceted nature of identity, with a particular consideration to the transitions that women constantly embody. Throughout her multidisciplinary career as an artist, curator,  actress, writer and activist, Acaye challenges the narratives that flatten people and their experiences. The exhibited artworks query binary and restrictive societal expectations through frozen dance motifs and contentions inherent in the artworks both abstract as well as in the dolls.
 
A key component of Acaye’s artwork is materiality. Raffia, banana fibre, dried grass, stripped banana rind and palm leaves are hand-sewn, braided, knotted and rewoven as large-scale dolls, wall-based installations and free-standing sculptures. These works visually amalgamate personal, and lived experiences with material storytelling. All the natural materials in the artwork have evolved through artistic creativity into intricate assemblages that celebrate the durable yet diverse paths of life. 
 
In the artwork Aan - Alur for Me Acaye Kerunen presents herself as both child and adult. Positioned either side of flowers made of vibrantly stripped raffia and banana leaves, the older self looks towards the younger, both temporarily suspended in a moment of dancing ecstasy, across the page of an open book, delicately rendered in woven banana fibre and crocheted raffia.  
 
These natural materials that are characteristicly typical in Acaye’s work, are inherently ephemeral. As highly versatile media, their consistent role in the artist’s body of work acts as a metaphor, illustrating the threads of identity woven in a vibrant tapestry. Dance is a recurring motif throughout Acaye’s works. Whether alone or performed with others, rhythmical movement is the common thread in the exhibition to celebrate or commiserate the ritual movements of life which facilitate self-actualisation. Here, the dolls, with their raised hands and dynamic poses, embody a sense of openness and liberation. 
 
The video works shown in I Am All These Women include works first shown during Acaye’s solo presentation at the Ugandan Pavilion at the 2022 Venice Biennale. The videos create evocative landscapes to convey the rituals of service with accompanying soundscapes of vocal tones and somatic sound waves.
 
The videos and sculptures resonate the artist’s intuitive movements and present nuanced emotional and societal portraits. We can choose our own path through personal joy and expression.
 
Text by Alice Acland
Installation Views
Back to Past exhibitions