Black Coral

Exhibition open: July/Aug: Tues – Sun (11am – 5pm) Sept: Wed – Sun (11am – 5pm) Black Coral, an exhibition of works by transdisciplinary artist Rudy Kanhye, interrogates the diasporic gaze while resisting the perceived binaries of colonial discourse to reclaim the metissage —“Métissage” referring to the ethnic and cultural mixing as a result of French colonialism reflecting on human histories and notions of freedom. Working across sculpture, screen printing, painting and poetry, Kahnye draws inspiration from Marina Carter’s and Khal Torabully’s concept of coolitude, which looks at the humanism of the indentured workers as it tries to break through the silence of archival records, encouraging an understanding of ‘history from below’ and inviting us into the depths of a collective memory that often remains obscured. The title itself refers to an organic structure that grows in the darkness of the seabed—a metaphor for an identity built away from simplistic gazes: complex, resilient, and deeply rooted in the history of the Indian Ocean. Copy credit: Lauren La Rose