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Employing collaging and traditional painting techniques, Marcellina Akpojotor’s work dialogues with familial history, the evolving nature of archives and an intimate celebration of memories and generational legacy. Building upon her current explorations of her maternal bloodline across generations as well as her series ‘Kesiena Diaries’, this body of work focuses on the artist’s daughter, presenting us with scenes of intimacy and family life. Through familiar and idyllic scenes, Akpojotor takes the viewer on a journey through parenthood. A journey that leaps across time, documenting intimate lives in stages. Here, she creates vivid compositions focused on capturing the immediacy of a moment, engaged simultaneously in the act of creating and archiving memories. 

The three-dimensional space plays a fundamental role in our perception and understanding of the physical world. It establishes points of existence, movement and relation between objects. From different theories on its mode of existence — as an entity on its own, a relationship between entities, or part of a conceptual framework —  the three-dimensional space serves as the structural basis for the creation of tangible realities. Whole communities, economies and modes of living arise from the construction, organization and movement of objects within diverse spatial contexts. How then do we understand the multiple realities of being and existing, access and movement, within this three-dimensionality?

Naming forms a very complex and vital part of human culture and language. From its political uses in acts of erasure and reclaiming to its practical and intimate roles within private and public spaces, names serve to allude to and confirm the presence of a thing. The naming or re-naming of a thing helps to establish an existing identity or herald a new one. In several African societies, names often reflect cultural, religious and ethnic identity. Often designed as an elaborate ceremony that happens days after birth and involves contributions from extended family and community, the naming of a child is a sacred act that can reflect the family's hopes, beliefs, situations and values.

To commemorate the opening of Rele’s new space in Los Angeles, the gallery presents work by represented artists in dialogue with the concept of naming, mainly by exploring their own names. 

LAGOS (DECEMBER 5 - DECEMBER 31, 2023)

The exhibition delves into the intricate interiority that characterizes sober reflections on endings and the cyclical nature of beginnings. This exhibition mirrors the nuanced and contemplative journey towards closure, inviting viewers to contemplate personal and collective conclusions and the aftermath–the conclusion of one phase emerging as a threshold and marking the inception of another.

It features works that compellingly position figures–some in a stance of defiant retreat–creating a thought-provoking visual narrative that serve as focal points within the artworks, offering a nuanced exploration of human emotions and responses to endings. Endings, portrayed as reflective moments, unveil the transformative power that resides within farewells and the cycle that continues afterwards.