Head of State’s Second Exhibition Analyzes the Transcendental Power of Home
Combining fashion, film, photography and more.
With its continued focus on postcolonial youth culture, Head of State’s second exhibition analyzed the transcendental power of home. Since its 2016 birth, the brand has spread its vision through both exhibition and runway shows. So coming behind the brand’s previous ‘Homecoming’ and ‘Memories of Home’ presentations, the founder/creative director, Taofeek Abijako headed to Strada Gallery to assemble the brand’s second exhibition.
Entitled ‘Home as Corpus,‘ Abijako’s latest work deepens the definition of home – going beyond the physical meanings that his previous two presentations centered on. “This exhibition continues the theme of home, but the previous two reference home in the physical as a geological site,” said Abijako. “But this time around, I wanted to explore something beyond that. Home is more corporal. It can exist in one space, but it’s not limited to that.”
Upon entry, attendees’ eyes immediately gravitated toward the center of the space, which housed three red dresses by Abijako. Although striking by display and design alone, the power in the items was their representation of pieces of Abijako’s home of Nigeria whether it be architecture, sculpture, places or personal stories. Moreover, the dresses serve as a threadline between Head of State’s previous collection and foreshadowing forthcoming work.
As a whole, the exhibition, which was also curated by Diallo Simon-Ponte, came together through a multidisciplinary lens – combining fashion, film, photography, painting, sculpture and textile. Aside from Abijako, ‘Home as Corpus‘ featured works by Cameron Granger, Nola Ayoola, Oluwatobiloba Ajayi, Isabel Okoro and Lewinale Havette.
“Taofeek and Head of State have already developed this deep and beautiful conceptual framework. So it was very easy for me who inhabits the spiritual practice of research,” said Simon-Ponte. “My curiosity leads me down these rabbit holes. For example, Cameron Granger was an artist in residence at the Studio Museum and I went to his studio and fell in love with his practice. So it was a very beautiful and amorphous conversation between Taefeek and I.”
Take a look at Head of State’s latest presentation ‘Home as Corpus‘ in the gallery above.
In other news, SRVC SS24 “Wish I Were Here” takes an unrealistic digitalized holiday.
