Womanhood, dignity of labour take centre stage at golden age show

The issue of women resonated in Golden Age of Icons, a solo show of Stacey Ravvero’s recent and new works, which examines broad themes of womanhood, dignity of labour, gender, spirituality and nature.

Ravvero, who documents the creative process of her collection, is recognised for her multidisciplinary practice and presents a group of multi media works which she birth using her line drawing style.

Fifteen of her works on paper merge the boundaries between materiality with her use of copper wires and 24 carat gold pigment. Eleven metal works made of repurposed metal and copper wires depict female forms primarily using Ravvero’s infamous line drawing aesthetic.

Her collection of works tell a story of a woman’s work, her process and her dream to see women’s history centred and told without the patronising tone, but through the lens of truth and deep respect for their work and impact. Though her focus is mostly women, she has also included men who have been critical.

Documenting the process through her extensive research, she was led to the works of many influential women artists such as, Lady Constance Afiong Ekong, Mama Nike Davies Okundaye, Lady Ladi Kwali, and Lady Clara Etso Ugbodaga-Ngu, Bruce Onobrakpeya and Ben Enwonwu. Her artistic trajectory paid homage to six of them on paintings on canvas.

For Ravvero, “it is important we move beyond the binary of our gender and focus on the work created – the material and creative process.”

Eight paintings pay tribute to women in the artist’s life, and women in the future, of which she holds sacred space for while immortalizing them in history.

What inspired the exhibition according to Ravvero is: “The erasure of women in arts and to confront that, I would like to move away from the notion of a female only rhetoric – which I think isolates and puts women, again, in the periphery.”  

She added, “The collection is multi sensory – embedding multiple media experimentation to keep fun and childlike wonder alive. Centred on women and the work that they do, this exhibition features works from 2019 – 2022, encompassing a full spectrum of media including, metal sculptures, drawings, poetry, videos, stop motion as well as works on canvas and paper.

Ravvero’s work has been shown in Lagos, London, Chambéry, Tennessee, Dakar, Accra, Nairobi and New York, to name a few. Some notable exhibitions she has featured in include; Fragility Awakening and Power, Gallery of African Art, U.K in 2017, Gallery of Small things Dakar Biennial Off, Senegal in 2018, Art Expo New York, in 2019, LineGuage at the Centre for Contemporary Art Lagos, Nigeria.