Day 4684: African Mythology in Sculpture & Smart Ants.

"Duties": junk collage, ink.

        

  

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Click: Billy Preston, My Sweet Lord.

2GN2S

African Mythology and Ancestry

 in Sculptures by Zak Ové

“The Mothership Connection” (2022), stainless steel, bronze, resin, and mixed media

Merging themes of interstellar travel and cultural convergences, Zak Ové creates large-scale sculptures and multimedia installations that explore African ancestry, traditions, and history. The British-Trinidadian artist’s practice is deeply rooted in the narratives of the African diaspora, focusing on traditions of masquerade. He delves into its role in performance and ceremony, as well as masks as potent instruments for self-emancipation and cultural resistance.

Detail of “Black Starliner” (2025), stainless steel, aluminium, fiberglass, and resin

Ové’s interdisciplinary work spans sculpture, painting, film, and photography, exploring links between mythology, oral histories, and speculative futures. “His sculptures often incorporate symbols, iconography, and materials drawn from African, Caribbean, and diasporic traditions, merging them with modern aesthetics to celebrate the continuity and adaptability of culture,” his studio says.

    

“The Mothership Connection” (2022), stainless steel, bronze, resin, and
mixed media. Installed at Frieze London 2023

The motif of rockets has emerged in Ove’s recent installations, like “The Mothership Connection” and “Black Starliner,” which feature totem-like stacks of African tribal masks and lattice-like Veve symbols—intricate designs employed in the Vodou religion to represent spiritual deities known as Lwa.

Ové often delves into the relationship between contemporary lived experiences and the spirit world, like in “Moko Jumbie” or a glass mosaic installation in London titled “Jumbie Jubilation.” In these works, the artist brings an ancestral spirit rooted in African and Caribbean folklore known as a Jumbie to life as a spectral dancer, cloaked in banana leaves with a torso of a golden, radiant face.

    

“Invisible Man and the Masque of Blackness” (2016), graphite. Installed at Yorkshire Sculpture Park

 In a monumental assembly of African masked figures titled “The Invisible Man and the Masque of Blackness,” Ové conceived of 40 graphite sculptures organized in a militaristic grid, each six-and-a-half feet tall, that have marched across the grounds of Somerset House, Yorkshire Sculpture Park, San Francisco City Hall, and Los Angeles County Museum of Art.

“Invisible Man and the Masque of Blackness” (2016), graphite. Installed at Somerset House, London

“Jumbie Jubilation” (2024), glass mosaic panels, dimensions varys per panel

“The Mothership Connection” will be exhibited later this summer and fall at 14th Street Square in New York City’s Meatpacking District, accompanied by a gallery show at Chelsea Market. Dates are currently being confirmed, and you can follow updates on Ové’s Instagram.

“Moko Jumbie” (2021), mixed media

Detail of “Moko Jumbie” (2021), mixed media, commissioned & installed at Art Gallery of Ontari

“Black Starliner” (2025), stainless steel, aluminium, fiberglass, and resin,
40 x 22.6 x 27.4 feet. Installed at Louvre Abu Dhab

“Virulent Strain” (2022), graphite, 22-carat gold leaf, and bronze, 120 centimeters in diameter

Detail of “Jumbie Jubilation” (2024)

“The Mothership Connection” (2022), stainless steel, bronze, resin, mixed media, 

  

 

A 12 minute video, Romeo & Antiet, here

 

 

 

  

 

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