Ntiense Eno-Amooquaye has revealed a unique exhibition in Cardiff providing a sensory experience through a mixture of poems, artworks and fashion.
An award-winning artist has revealed her biggest solo exhibition in Cardiff’s Chapter Arts Centre with a unique infusion of artwork, clothing and poetry inspired by her identity and African heritage.
The artist Ntiense Eno Amooquaye has displayed an interactive exhibition with abstract artworks, self-portraits, dresses on mannequins, and a video display of her performing her poems.
Richard Higlett, a member of the staff and an artist himself, says they are like wearable drawings. “Those [artworks] are used to be transferred digitally into the fabrics, and the fabrics are made into dresses which she performs in and she writes these poems based on her experiences.”
The exhibition is divided roughly into three sections. The left corner by the entrance includes a wall display of photographic portraits of the artist dressed in different dresses of her creation.
The main hall includes an impressive set of dresses on mannequins with African-inspired patterns and designs of different eras.
In the background, linen sheets hang from the wall with quotes from her poems, and the drawings before they were imprinted on the dresses.
After reaching the final mannequin, the visitor will be able to hear a voice-over that, when followed, leads to a small cinema room with a video of the artist performing her poems displayed on three cut screens.
The exhibition is themed “Crashing the Glass Slippers”, the same name as one of her six poems that she performs wearing her dresses. The Cinderella reference of “glass slippers” is used to portray the fairytale idea that the artist tries to break away from.
Ntiense, a member of Intoart Arts charity for talented artists with learning disabilities, draws on her own experience for inspiration and creates art that shows her identity.
Since its opening last month, visitors have interpreted her work differently based on their own experiences.
“I spotted the patterns on the dress, and it reminded me of the prints we have at home, it’s called Hollandais. We use it in Nigeria … it spoke to me,” said a gallery visitor, Yuonne Daulewe, after making the connection between the artist’s designs and the clear inspiration of her African heritage.
Others have spotted elements of her African-inspired designs through the historical references printed on the artworks on the wall such as “The Same but Different” and “Order Justice Domination”, as well as the exaggeration of the body shown by how the dresses are designed.
“I explore the relationships between words and images … I want to present what I am doing … and reading in performance but also ask –where do people find me in the exhibition when I am not there?” writes Ntiense.
