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Shrine: At the Intersection of Object and Spectacle
The Fancy Dress festival takes place annually on the first day the year in the town of Winneba, Ghana. While the masquerade festival started out locally as a searing satire on colonial life, it has since become one of the country’s most popular and well-attended festivals. The masqueraders, who are members of five competing families that vie for the top prize and bragging rights, are judged on originality and presentation and can spend up to a year constructing their ornate costumes in secret.
Ultimately it is the costumes – ranging in their use of materials from woven cloth, knotted netting, faux fur and sequins to tinsel, embroidery,
beads
and
baubles
–
that
form
much
of
the
focus
of
the
show.
Drawing
on
those
costumes
as
inspiration, Shrine: At the Intersection of Object and Spectacle, is a collection of new works by artist Na Chainkua Reindorf based entirely on the artist’s imagined collection of objets d’art sourced from a fictional masquerader’s atelier. The works on display therefore follow in West African masquerade traditions, with a specific focus on the elements involved in the construction of costumes and ceremonial dress, highlighting the masqueraders’ dedication to create awe-inspiring pieces that are then revealed in a dramatic fashion.
Shrine, though echoing the spectacular, also quietly reveals itself as a painstakingly slow and meticulous practice. Each ‘tapestry’ has been created using traditional and contemporary weaving techniques, revealing the artist’s hand as deliberate and intentional. The pieces are constructed entirely out of cotton yarn, nylon thread, and hand-polished glass beads, capturing a deconstructed essence of costumes and ceremonial dress from across the West African region where the costumes have been reduced to their most basic elements; color, texture, space and scale. The purposefully limited choice of materials points to the potential of such simple, everyday materials to dazzle, simultaneously exploring ideas of pomp, grandeur, and splendor.
While intended to allow the materials to speak for themselves, Shrine also calls attention to the often “invisible” work done by women. As a meditative and repetitive process, it emphasizes the time, effort, and labor required to realize such a project. And because masquerade traditions have historically excluded women both from their construction and performance, often due to heavily entrenched traditional beliefs, the show is an attempt to claim their long-denied space within the history of a local West African tradition, while contributing to the dynamic body of works by contemporary African women artists.
6
Spill, 2019 8
Glass beads, nylon thread 62 x 46.5 in
Grace, 2019 10
Glass beads, nylon thread 62 x 40 in.
Source, 2018-2019 12
Glass beads, nylon thread 18.5 x 26 in.
Glaze, 2018-2019 14
Glass beads, nylon thread, cotton yarn 40.5 x 47 in.
Scape, 2018-2019 Glass beads, nylon thread, cotton yarn 16
40.5 x 47 in.
Chroma, 2018-2019 Glass beads, nylon thread, cotton yarn 18
40.5 x 46.5 in.
Course, 2018-2019 20
Glass beads, nylon thread, cotton yarn 46.5 x 40 in.
Trace I, 2019 22
Glass beads, nylon thread 9 x 9 in.
Trace II, 2018 24
Glass beads, nylon thread 9 x 9.5 in.
Trace III, 2019 26
Glass beads, nylon thread 9 x 9 in.
Trace IV, 2019 28
Glass beads, nylon thread 9 x 9 in.
Trace V, 2018 30
Glass beads, nylon thread 9 x 9 in.
Altar, 2018-2019 32
Glass beads, nylon thread, cotton thread, cotton fabric 264 x 12 x 12 in.
Offering, 2019 34
Glass beads, nylon thread Variable
Biography
38
Na
Chainkua
Reindorf
(b.
1991,
Ghana)
is
a
mixed
media
artist
who
creates
large-scale
tapestries
and
immersive
sculptural installations. Her work is an exploration of and an ode to the rich cultural history of West African textiles, especially weaving traditions like Kente, and the complexities of masquerade dress.
She purposefully incorporates contemporary materials into her
work as a way to create new ways of using these historical textiles to explore ongoing social topics including gender and culture
She often
primarily
uses
incorporates
institutions
across
acrylic beads,
the
and
cotton
sequins,
United
States
yarn
dyed in
and
threads,
jute,
sisal,
wool
and
wire
muslin,
bamboo
and
vinyl
into
her
installations.
Iowa,
Illinois
and
New
York,
as
well
as
in
mesh
Lagos
for
her
She
has
Nigeria
and
tapestries, exhibited Accra,
and in
Ghana.
Education 2017 MFA, Creative Visual Arts, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY 2014 BA (Honors), Studio Art, Grinnell College, Grinnell, IA
Solo Exhibtions 2017 Screen, Experimental Gallery, Ithaca, NY Reveal || Conceal: Policing Women’s Bodies, Jill Stuart Gallery, Ithaca, NY 2016 Reveal || Conceal: Policing Women’s Bodies, Tjaden Gallery, Ithaca, NY Weft, JungleScience Gallery, Binghamton, NY 2014 Millennium Development Goals: A Textile Study, Nubuke Foundation Art Gallery, Accra, Ghana Millennium Development Goals: A Textile Study, Smith Gallery, Grinnell, IA Group Exhibtions 2018 Wanted Design, Terminal Stores, New York, NY 2017 Odd Year, Caelum Gallery, New York, NY Screen, Experimental Gallery, Ithaca, NY 40
Africa By Design, Nubuke Foundation, Accra, Ghana Swatch, Experimental Gallery, Ithaca, NY AAP Women Unite for Equality, Tjaden Gallery, Ithaca, NY 2016 After Karaoke, Tjaden Gallery, Ithaca, NY Nubuke Foundation 10th Year Anniversary Exhibition, Nubuke Foundation, Accra, Ghana Preamble, Tjaden Gallery, Ithaca, NY Something Came Over Me, Caelum Gallery, New York, NY Weft, JungleScience Gallery, Binghamton, NY Failure, Tjaden Gallery, Ithaca, NY Don’t Tell Me I’m Pretty, Hairpin Arts Centre, Chicago, IL 2015 Natural Dye Exhibition, Jill Stuart Gallery, Ithaca, NY This (Not That), Tjaden Gallery, Ithaca, NY 2014 Bachelor of Arts Exhibition (BAX), Faulconer Gallery, Grinnell, IA 2013 Re//Arrangers, Smith Gallery, Grinnell, IA Holes and Folds, Smith Gallery, Grinnell, IA Bachelor of Arts Exhibition (BAX), Faulconer Gallery, Grinnell, IA
Awards + Grants + Nominations 2017 Dedalus Foundation MFA Fellowship in Painting and Sculpture (Nominee) 2016 Cornell Council for the Arts Individual Grant, Cornell University, Ithaca, N Cornell Council for the Arts Group Grant, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY Mario Einaudi Centre for International Studies Working Group Grant: Qualities of Life, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY 2014 Inez Henely ’14 Memorial Prize in Art, Grinnell College, Grinnell, IA Mentored Advance Project (MAP) Grant, Grinnell College, Grinnell, IA 2013 3rd Year Art Prize, Grinnell College, Grinnell, IA SGA Art Prize, Grinnell College, Grinnell, IA
Selected Press + Bibliography + Published Writings “Africa Uncovered,” Elle Décor South Africa, July 2018 “Na Chainkua Celebrates Ghanaian Textiles Through Art,” The Daily Graphic, May 2018 “Na Chainkua Reindorf,” YNGSPC Featured Artists, May 2018. https://www.yngspc.com/artists/2018/05/na-chainkua-reindorf/ “Traditional African Masks Inspire M.F.A.’s Work,” Cornell AAP News, Issue 22, September 2017 “I Am (Not) Myself,” Dissolve Magazine, Issue 3, February 2017. http://www.dissolvesf.org/issue3/i-am-not-myself “Don’t Tell Me I’m Pretty,” The Visualist, February 2016. http://www.thevisualist.org/2016/02/chainky-reindorf-grace-kubilius-dont-tell-me-impretty/ “Fabric Exhibition at Nubuke,” The Daily Graphic, December 2014. https://www.graphic.com.gh/entertainment/showbiz-news/fabric-exhibition-atnubuke.html 42
Lectures + Presentations + Panels 2017 “A Conversation with Textiles,� Silsila: A Panel Discussion on Environmentalism, Migration, and Displacement, panelist, Johnson Museum of Art, Ithaca, NY November 9. 2016 Presentation, First Year Seminar on Contemporary Art, The Department of Art, Architecture and Planning, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY October 5.
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