Amartey Golding’s
largest work to date brings rituals of healing
to generational trauma to be shown in London
Image Credit: Amartey Golding, Bring Me to Heal (2021) video still. Image courtesy the artist and Forma Arts & Media
Forma Arts & Media presents Bring Me To Heal by Amartey Golding, commissioned in collaboration with 198 Contemporary Arts & Learning, Attenborough Centre for the Creative Arts, Tramway and the Victoria & Albert Museum.
The artist’s largest work to date, it encompasses an ornate handcrafted garment, two films and a photographic series. The exhibition next takes place at 198 Contemporary Arts & Learning in London between 17 March - 1 May 2022.
Golding often turns to his Anglo-Scottish and Ghanian ancestry by way of a Rastafarian upbringing as a point of departure to explore the drivers of human behaviour. Through film, photography and an increasingly labour-intensive process of sculpture, he creates dreamlike spaces, steeped in historical reference in which to locate characters experiencing moments of immutable change - points of no return that often leave the future hanging in the balance.
A centrepiece of the commission is an ornate hand knotted garment made of human hair that has been intricately designed by Golding in collaboration with the Shepperton Wig Company and hair artist Kevin Fortune using a pattern that blends references from afro hair styles to the body art of ancient Britons. Born from a lengthy process it is a symbol of collective healing and reflection; using the hair of a collective of potentially thousands of people, each strand was hand knotted and tended to by a collective of producers and for the purposes of collective healing.
Through the films and photography series the garment is brought to life when worn by Solomon Golding - Amartey’s brother and a dancer and film producer in his own right. We follow the character as he is nurtured into existence by a group of three nomadic Brothers in the English countryside or brought to a point of reckoning with our violent past within the opulence of the V&A museum, exposing a potent vulnerability.
As the title suggests, the work searches for the point at which the tide of trauma can be steered towards a process of healing and away from further embedding itself in our collective psyche. For this, Golding looks to the vital restorative work undertaken by Rastafarian and many other communities dealing with generational trauma and in a radical shift, applies these same techniques of context, accountability and compassion to the White British experience. Bring Me To Heal is a plea, an invocation for us to acknowledge the importance of understanding our emotional past and to establish a more equitable future. It is also a warning of the consequences we will continue to face if we don't.
Forma’s collaboration with Golding began in early 2019 with a proposal to undertake some Research & Development. Recognising both the depth of Golding’s artistic universe and his unique approach to the conversation on race and identity, Forma responded with an invitation to develop a new commission. Bring Me To Heal is Forma’s first major national touring commission in three years and marks Forma’s commitment to long term engagement with artists at a turning point in their career.
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About Amartey Golding
Amartey Golding was born in London in 1988 to an Anglo-Scottish mother, Ghanaian father and Jamaican stepfather. His creative practice spans chainmail making, upholstery, film, photography, ballet and fashion. Golding’s work documents his introspective process of identifying and understanding the unifying primal themes of humanity and exploring the seemingly contradictory fabric of human existence. At Frieze London 2019, Theaster Gates selected Golding for the Prada Mode programme, screening all films in the Chainmail series accompanied by an in-conversation event between Amartey and his brother Solomon Golding.
https://www.amarteygolding.com/ | @amarteygolding
https://www.amarteygolding.com/ | @amarteygolding
About...
Forma Arts & Media
Forma is a contemporary art organisation, charity and National Portfolio Organisation, supported by the Arts Council England, that champions ideas and artists who address the social and political questions of our times. Through a discursive process, we nurture artists’ creative vision and grow their ambition in order to develop collaborative projects that are career-defining and lead to new major opportunities around the world. We pride ourselves in being an organisation that artists want to work with. We offer commissioning, fundraising and production expertise, and as a non-gallery-based organisation we present projects in partnership with cultural institutions across the UK and internationally.
https://forma.org.uk/ | @formaartsmedia
Attenborough Centre for the Creative Arts is a multi-disciplinary arts hub (in a mid-century modern Grade II listed building, designed by Sir Basil Spence) located on the University of Sussex campus.
ACCA strives to find imaginative ways to connect artists with students and researchers across university departments, and presents a public programme of music, film, performance, dance, installation, digital practices, discussion and debate. The arts centre is named after Richard Attenborough (former Chancellor at University of Sussex). The programme at the centre is guided by Richard Attenborough's values and the things he believed in passionately: human rights, social justice, creative education and access to the arts for all.
https://www.attenboroughcentre.com/ | @attenboroughctr
Tramway is an international contemporary arts hub which supports established and emerging artists, both international and local, who focus on experimental and contemporary dance, visual art and performance. For thirty years we have built a reputation for our unique performance and exhibition spaces, and ambitious and inspiring programming. Tramway is a Creative Scotland regularly funded organisation and part of Glasgow life.
https://www.tramway.org/ | @glasgowtramway
Glasgow Life is a charity working for the benefit of the people of Glasgow. We believe everyone deserves a great Glasgow life and we find innovative ways to make this happen across the city’s diverse communities.
Our programmes, experiences and events range from grassroots community activities to large-scale cultural, artistic and sporting events which present Glasgow on an international stage.
Our work is designed to promote inclusion, happiness and health, as well as support the city’s visitor economy, in order to enhance Glasgow’s mental, physical and economic wellbeing.
www.glasgowlife.org.uk | @glasgowlife
198 Contemporary Arts and Learning’s mission is to nurture and support the career of emerging, under-represented artists and to advance public interest in the visual arts. Founded in 1988, 198’s motivation initially focused on the need to provide a platform for afro-caribbean and asian artists as part of the black arts movement. For nearly 30 years this work has evolved and continued to develop with projects that consider the work and study of emerging cultural identities, through exhibitions, workshops, education projects and critical debate with artists, thinkers, activists, young people and local and artistic communities. We advocate for diversity within the visual arts and provide opportunities for those wishing to develop careers in the creative and cultural industries.
www.198.org.uk | @198_cal
Forma is a contemporary art organisation, charity and National Portfolio Organisation, supported by the Arts Council England, that champions ideas and artists who address the social and political questions of our times. Through a discursive process, we nurture artists’ creative vision and grow their ambition in order to develop collaborative projects that are career-defining and lead to new major opportunities around the world. We pride ourselves in being an organisation that artists want to work with. We offer commissioning, fundraising and production expertise, and as a non-gallery-based organisation we present projects in partnership with cultural institutions across the UK and internationally.
https://forma.org.uk/ | @formaartsmedia
Attenborough Centre for the Creative Arts is a multi-disciplinary arts hub (in a mid-century modern Grade II listed building, designed by Sir Basil Spence) located on the University of Sussex campus.
ACCA strives to find imaginative ways to connect artists with students and researchers across university departments, and presents a public programme of music, film, performance, dance, installation, digital practices, discussion and debate. The arts centre is named after Richard Attenborough (former Chancellor at University of Sussex). The programme at the centre is guided by Richard Attenborough's values and the things he believed in passionately: human rights, social justice, creative education and access to the arts for all.
https://www.attenboroughcentre.com/ | @attenboroughctr
Tramway is an international contemporary arts hub which supports established and emerging artists, both international and local, who focus on experimental and contemporary dance, visual art and performance. For thirty years we have built a reputation for our unique performance and exhibition spaces, and ambitious and inspiring programming. Tramway is a Creative Scotland regularly funded organisation and part of Glasgow life.
https://www.tramway.org/ | @glasgowtramway
Glasgow Life is a charity working for the benefit of the people of Glasgow. We believe everyone deserves a great Glasgow life and we find innovative ways to make this happen across the city’s diverse communities.
Our programmes, experiences and events range from grassroots community activities to large-scale cultural, artistic and sporting events which present Glasgow on an international stage.
Our work is designed to promote inclusion, happiness and health, as well as support the city’s visitor economy, in order to enhance Glasgow’s mental, physical and economic wellbeing.
www.glasgowlife.org.uk | @glasgowlife
198 Contemporary Arts and Learning’s mission is to nurture and support the career of emerging, under-represented artists and to advance public interest in the visual arts. Founded in 1988, 198’s motivation initially focused on the need to provide a platform for afro-caribbean and asian artists as part of the black arts movement. For nearly 30 years this work has evolved and continued to develop with projects that consider the work and study of emerging cultural identities, through exhibitions, workshops, education projects and critical debate with artists, thinkers, activists, young people and local and artistic communities. We advocate for diversity within the visual arts and provide opportunities for those wishing to develop careers in the creative and cultural industries.
www.198.org.uk | @198_cal
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