An event is not by itself the creation of a reality; it is the creation of a possibility, it opens up a possibility… The event is, in a certain way, merely a proposition. It proposes something to us. Everything will depend on the way in which the possibility proposed by the event is grasped, elaborated, incorporated and set out in the world.
—Alain Badiou
The nature of an event — despite being subject to diverse definitions — connotes a state in which something happens or continues to happen. As noted by Badiou, the event prompts a creation of possibilities, descending from or in response to the primary source. Increasingly populated by objects, bodies, and minds, the tangible and abstract spheres of our world serve as a stage for the playing out of performances and reactions. If we imagine the span of a life/lives as a series of occurrences experienced passively or actively by body, space and object, how does the unfolding of an event influence future responses and realities?
The exhibition Afterimages aims to bring together artists working across diverse disciplines in investigating the aftermath of the event. The ‘afterimage’ is defined as an image that continues to appear in the eyes after a period of exposure to the original image. Its creation is predicated on an experience and perception of form. In this exhibition, the afterimage is considered a remnant of and unfolding response to an occurrence. From transformative moments of change whose impact are felt collectively, to more marginal, everyday actions/inactions, the exhibition presents artists, Kitso Lynn Lelliot, Ofem Ubi, Uche Uzorka, Boniface Maina, Ugo Ahiakwo and Ethel Tawe, in dialogue with traces of memory and the many ways events of the distant and barely concluded past continue to haunt and shape the present.