#OyaChronicles: In Conversation with my Mother featuring Funmi Iyanda & Ayoola Gbolahan | August 27th

Story. Performance. Dialogue. Action.

In Conversation With My Mother: Opening Performance and Action starring Funmi Iyanda, Gbolahan Ayoola, and The Blue Woman

Date: Sunday, August 27, 2017
Time: 6.00 pm – 10.00 pm
Venue: Kachette, 347 Old St, London. EC1V 9LP, United Kingdom

“In Conversation With My Mother” is the physical embodiment of the literary piece of the same name, a haunting piece of literature which promotes dialogue as a form of healing, bridging the space between writer Funmi Iyanda and her mother.

Oya Chronicles cleverly incorporates dance and voice acting to recreate this conversation, transporting it from page to stage, universalizing its importance in the process. What begins as a dialogue between mother and daughter emerges as a timeless, ageless, and genderless conversation between two humans, each longingly searching for each other, extending their hands through eternity, reaching for love and healing, but mostly, for each other.

The evening includes a dance performance, the auction of a single Ayoola Artwork for charity, a dialogue between Funmi and Ayoola, a live vinyl mixer, and a concluding spoken word poetry performance.

Funmi’s Article: The Blue Woman, further develops the central theme conceived by Lagos based artist Gbolahan Ayoola as the basis of his Blue Woman Series (2008 – 2017). The canvases explore her story and her fundamental reason for being. The Blue Woman, through her elegance, appears unsettled: we ascribe all our values and faults to her physicality, yet her eyes are unsteady, she has not been given a voice to agree or detest. The longer we look at her the surer her eyes become, and inversely the less sure ours become; we discover that hers are the benevolent eyes of knowledge, of timeless wisdom, and her gaze is an invitation to us, a plea, to embrace all that we know we truly are, our power, that in this chaotic sphere of modern life we too easily forget.

Chronicles is a rare chance to see a very limited collection of Ayoola’s masterful works, before his first UK solo exhibition. In synergy with the philosophy of Oya Chronicles, Conversations With My Mother is an immersive experience: an invitation to step out of day-to-day consciousness, and embrace the Blue Woman philosophy: you are more than you allow yourself to be. Oya Chronicles creates a single narrative through the bridging of mediums, complementing the story of Funmi with the art of Ayoola, forming a vibrant and inclusive whole, and an inspiring and enchanting experience.

Funmi Iyanda is a renowned Nigerian media personality with a long-standing record of connecting great people and ideas to diverse audiences. She is recognised by the World Economic Forum (WEF) as a young global leader and by the BBC as one of the Women to Watch in its 100 Women Series (2014).

Gbolahan Ayoola is one of the most powerful voices in contemporary art in Nigeria. His work is personal, deeply layered with emotions, and filled with meaning and matters of eternal importance, employing countless symbols and signs inspired by his African heritage that tap into a greater collective consciousness which depicts the archetypal realm lying just below the skin of everyday ordinary awareness.

Kànbí Contemporary is an experimental collaboration with artists to curate and showcase their works. It is a platform outside the traditional white-cube space for artists of Nigerian descent on the continent and in diaspora to connect with a diverse global audience to tell their stories in their own voices.

Oya Media is a production studio that creates crafted content across film, event and interactive platforms. Their ambition is to make work that matters, educating and resonating with everyone through their strong values, original ideas, and unique visual language.

Click here for tickets.

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