ANCESTRAL FUTURES: SOMA TOTKO II
TAKES ONE TO KNOW ONE
SOMA TOKTO II is a multi-sensory music listening experience featuring music by Afro-futurism Artist Shumba Maasai & Producer Hermes Listens exploring themes linked to Shumba Maasai’s experience as a young black Zimbabwean in London.
It is said that we live on through our children. Back II The Roots pays homage to the past whilst in the present and building towards the future. Ancestral Futures honour black ancestry and spirituality, paying respect to the fore mother and fathers that came before us, VIew a rare collection of sacred artefacts only ever seen behind glass museum display featured alongside modern contemporary art featuring the work of three young black London-based female creative visionaries and fine artists from Nigeria, Sierra Leone, Zimbabwe & Antigua.
ALPHONSE MENDY’S PRIVATE COLLECTION
Alphonse Mendy has amassed an impressive collection of artifacts from various cultures in Africa. For TOTKO II Alphonse has loaned sculptures, masks, headdresses, and objects from West, Central, and Southern Africa. The Collection is not only impressive because of the scope but also due to the identity of the collector. Based in the UK, previously owning an African antique shop in North London, he has personal ties to Gambia and Guinea-Bissau. Mendy reclaims the agency of the artworks and presents a positive view of who a Traditional African Art Collector is and can be.
Mendy is passionate about sharing African art and culture in spaces that will be seen by those in the Diaspora, honoring the people and traditions of the past and present. As a result, this collection invites the viewer to digest, learn, pay homage to and connect with their roots.
CITY OF GOOD
DYLEMA AMADI
NO NAME
ALICIA-PEARL CATO
VISUAL ARTISTS
DYLEMA AMADI
DYLEMA : Do You Let Man Adapt.
Dylema is a Nigerian born British multidisciplinary artist acclaimed for her poetry, writing, art and performances.
In 2019, Dylema performed ‘Four Women’ - a play about personal experience migrating from Nigeria to England, depicted through four female characters played by Dylema. The play is told in both Igbo & English as they play their mother tongue, younger self, adult self and present self. It played for3 nights at the Battersea Arts Centre as part of the Homegrown Festival.
During a six month residency at Bouverie Mews, Dylema created 6 large paintings, one of which Chloe Bailey, Immortalised was shortlisted for the Ashurst Art Prize 2020.
SHANNON BONO
Shannon Bono (b. 1995 London) is a multimedia-driven artist, cultural writer, and MA Art & Science graduate from Central Saint Martins University 2019 living and working in London. Shannon also has a degree in Biochemistry and is currently completing a Pg Cert in Academic practice art, design and communication.
Shannon uses the term ‘Afrofemcentrism’ to describe her work, this term describes a consciousness that asserts race, sex and art as a way of living, where black womxn are the subject depicted by a black womxn.
ALICIA-PEARL CATO
Alicia-Pearl Cato (b.1998) is a Painter who graduated from Wimbledon College of Arts with a BA (Hons) Fine Art in 2019. Living and working in London, her mediums are canvas and textiles, she is currently working and accepting commissions.
Cato draws inspiration from her African Caribbean roots being Zimbabwean and Antiguan as well as her experience of being Black British Londoner. Her experiences of racism in the British education system have also been a catalyst in her work that has enabled her to question and portray her identity.
Her work is heavily influenced by music, her Red Collection includes a combination of oil painting and textile of various artists. Cato’s works are an ode to the dynamic and wonderful art form that is African-American music which has inspired people all over the world.
CURATORS
Vanessa Kanaiza Onalo
Former advertising creative director turned Cultural Producer & Art Curator Vanessa Kanaiza has been advocating for black creative talent and narratives from real communities for the last 8 years.
The Kenyan born East Londoner is the artistic director behind Kanaiza, an arts and culture creative agency dedicated to black creative communities across US, Brazil. UK & Africa. Was brought on to the TOKTO II experience as an official Art Partner after being a media supporter of TOKTO I IN 2019.
For TOKTO II Kanaiza managed and designed the art exhibition direction, exhibition set, user /guest journey experience and handpicked visual artist and poet Dylema Amadi ; creator of What If A Black Girl Knew movement
Co-Curator Jessica Lowe-Mbirimi is a Social Anthropologist (BA) with a focus in Contemporary Art and Material Culture. Masters in African Studies with Heritage. Her subject area explores the connection between contemporary art and museum spaces as well as marginality and visibility of the Black Diaspora in Art. She has curated at The Lady David Gallery, The Geffrye Museum and has collaborated with Chisenhale Art Gallery, She is currently curatorial and acquisitions assistant at the Contemporary Art Society. For TOTKO II, she has worked on the Alphonse Mendy collection and the UAL Graduate Artists.
Jessica Lowe-Mbirimi.
