The dialogue between art practice and critical theory is the focus of an exhibition opening this week at the Koraï project space by Anietie Ekanem, a 25-year-old British-born multidisciplinary artist and theorist of Afro-Caribbean heritage.

“Mumbo Jumbo is a double entendre,” Anietie writes in his artist statement. “As Westerners understand it, it refers to something ‘nonsensical’ or ‘devoid of any discernible meaning’. In the Vodun (Voodoo) religions, however, Mumbo Jumbo is the intermediary spirit that appeases troubled ancestral spirits. Pluralities of meaning, then, become the central focus of this exhibition. The many manifestations of the global black diaspora present an opportunity to investigate pre-colonial spirituality and religious syncretism.

“I have come to understand race not as a physical fact, but as a ghostly system of power relations that produces certain gestures, moods, emotions and states of being. Considering pre-colonial spirituality in its primacy then eschews Eurocentric definitions. And by situating ancestral and traditional spiritual practices in a contemporary context, I seek to visualise how an obscured past comes to bear on the present,” Anietie adds.

The works in this show are in conversation with each other, where images and texts are drawn from Classical antiquity, Afro-futurism and Catholic iconography are pulled apart and reconfigured on myriad surfaces.

Mumbo Jumbo

Solo exhibition by Anietie Ekanem. September 9-October 7. Koraï project space, Nicosia. Opening night 7pm. Other days by appointment. [email protected]