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Rites of Passage

March 16–April 29, 2023
Britannia Street, London

Installation view Artwork, left to right: © Elsa James, © Patrick Quarm. Photo: Lucy Dawkins

Installation view

Artwork, left to right: © Elsa James, © Patrick Quarm. Photo: Lucy Dawkins

Installation view Artwork © Patrick Quarm. Photo: Lucy Dawkins

Installation view

Artwork © Patrick Quarm. Photo: Lucy Dawkins

Installation view with Patrick Quarm, Make you no see, Make you no hear, Make you no speak (2022) Artwork © Patrick Quarm. Photo: Lucy Dawkins

Installation view with Patrick Quarm, Make you no see, Make you no hear, Make you no speak (2022)

Artwork © Patrick Quarm. Photo: Lucy Dawkins

Installation view Artwork, left to right: © Patrick Quarm, © Mary Evans. Photo: Lucy Dawkins

Installation view

Artwork, left to right: © Patrick Quarm, © Mary Evans. Photo: Lucy Dawkins

Installation view Artwork, left to right: © Sahara Longe, © Sharon Walters, © Àsìkò. Photo: Lucy Dawkins

Installation view

Artwork, left to right: © Sahara Longe, © Sharon Walters, © Àsìkò. Photo: Lucy Dawkins

Installation view Artwork, left to right: © Alexandria Smith, © Tunji Adeniyi-Jones, © Manyaku Mashilo. Photo: Lucy Dawkins

Installation view

Artwork, left to right: © Alexandria Smith, © Tunji Adeniyi-Jones, © Manyaku Mashilo. Photo: Lucy Dawkins

Installation view Artwork, left to right: © Patrick Quarm, © Adelaide Damoah. Photo: Lucy Dawkins

Installation view

Artwork, left to right: © Patrick Quarm, © Adelaide Damoah. Photo: Lucy Dawkins

Installation view Artwork, left to right: © Adelaide Damoah, © Alexandria Smith. Photo: Lucy Dawkins

Installation view

Artwork, left to right: © Adelaide Damoah, © Alexandria Smith. Photo: Lucy Dawkins

Installation view Artwork, left to right: © Emily Moore, © Manyaku Mashilo, © Àsìkò. Photo: Lucy Dawkins

Installation view

Artwork, left to right: © Emily Moore, © Manyaku Mashilo, © Àsìkò. Photo: Lucy Dawkins

Installation view Artwork, left to right: © Emily Moore, © Ayesha Feisal, © Enam Gbewonyo, © Àsìkò. Photo: Lucy Dawkins

Installation view

Artwork, left to right: © Emily Moore, © Ayesha Feisal, © Enam Gbewonyo, © Àsìkò. Photo: Lucy Dawkins

Installation view Artwork, left to right: © Emily Moore, © Ayesha Feisal

Installation view

Artwork, left to right: © Emily Moore, © Ayesha Feisal

Installation view Artwork, left to right: © Michaela Yearwood-Dan, © Patrick Quarm, © Adelaide Damoah. Photo: Lucy Dawkins

Installation view

Artwork, left to right: © Michaela Yearwood-Dan, © Patrick Quarm, © Adelaide Damoah. Photo: Lucy Dawkins

Installation view Artwork, left to right: © Emily Moore, © Enam Gbewonyo, © Ayesha Feisal, © Michaela Yearwood-Dan. Photo: Lucy Dawkins

Installation view

Artwork, left to right: © Emily Moore, © Enam Gbewonyo, © Ayesha Feisal, © Michaela Yearwood-Dan. Photo: Lucy Dawkins

Installation view Artwork, left to right: © Tunji Adeniyi-Jones, © Emily Moore, © Ayesha Feisal. Photo: Lucy Dawkins

Installation view

Artwork, left to right: © Tunji Adeniyi-Jones, © Emily Moore, © Ayesha Feisal. Photo: Lucy Dawkins

Installation view Artwork, left to right: © Emily Moore, © Phoebe Boswell, © Enam Gbewonyo. Photo: Lucy Dawkins

Installation view

Artwork, left to right: © Emily Moore, © Phoebe Boswell, © Enam Gbewonyo. Photo: Lucy Dawkins

Installation view Artwork, left to right: © Nengi Omuku, © Phoebe Boswell. Photo: Lucy Dawkins

Installation view

Artwork, left to right: © Nengi Omuku, © Phoebe Boswell. Photo: Lucy Dawkins

Installation view Artwork, left to right: © Phoebe Boswell, © Enam Gbewonyo, © Femi Dawkins. Photo: Lucy Dawkins

Installation view

Artwork, left to right: © Phoebe Boswell, © Enam Gbewonyo, © Femi Dawkins. Photo: Lucy Dawkins

Installation view with Victor Ehikhamenor, Do This In Memory Of Us (2019–20) Artwork © Victor Ehikhamenor. Photo: Lucy Dawkins

Installation view with Victor Ehikhamenor, Do This In Memory Of Us (2019–20)

Artwork © Victor Ehikhamenor. Photo: Lucy Dawkins

Installation view with Victor Ehikhamenor, Do This In Memory Of Us (2019–20) Artwork © Victor Ehikhamenor. Photo: Lucy Dawkins

Installation view with Victor Ehikhamenor, Do This In Memory Of Us (2019–20)

Artwork © Victor Ehikhamenor. Photo: Lucy Dawkins

Installation view with Julianknxx, …?inawhirlwindofencounters (2023) Artwork © Studioknxx. Photo: Lucy Dawkins

Installation view with Julianknxx, …?inawhirlwindofencounters (2023)

Artwork © Studioknxx. Photo: Lucy Dawkins

Installation view with Julianknxx, …?inawhirlwindofencounters (2023) Artwork © Studioknxx. Photo: Lucy Dawkins

Installation view with Julianknxx, …?inawhirlwindofencounters (2023)

Artwork © Studioknxx. Photo: Lucy Dawkins

Works Exhibited

Àsìkò, Pillars at the Port, 2022 Giclée print on baryta paper, 63 × 42 ⅛ inches (160 × 107 cm), edition of 5 + 2 AP© Àsìkò

Àsìkò, Pillars at the Port, 2022

Giclée print on baryta paper, 63 × 42 ⅛ inches (160 × 107 cm), edition of 5 + 2 AP
© Àsìkò

Enam Gbewonyo, Colonialist Ravelry, an infection of mind, skin and being. Blackness hangs on, a determined survival, 2021 Used tights, recycled cotton yarn, and cotton thread on wood frames, 42 ⅛ × 28 ¾ × 2 ⅝ inches (107 × 73 × 6.5 cm)© Enam Gbewonyo. Photo: Noah Da Costa

Enam Gbewonyo, Colonialist Ravelry, an infection of mind, skin and being. Blackness hangs on, a determined survival, 2021

Used tights, recycled cotton yarn, and cotton thread on wood frames, 42 ⅛ × 28 ¾ × 2 ⅝ inches (107 × 73 × 6.5 cm)
© Enam Gbewonyo. Photo: Noah Da Costa

Elsa James, Ode to David Lammy MP, 2022 Neon, 11 ⅞ × 354 ⅜ inches (30 × 900 cm), edition of 1 + 1 AP© Elsa James. Photo: Lucy Dawkins

Elsa James, Ode to David Lammy MP, 2022

Neon, 11 ⅞ × 354 ⅜ inches (30 × 900 cm), edition of 1 + 1 AP
© Elsa James. Photo: Lucy Dawkins

Nengi Omuku, Eden, 2022 Oil on sanyan, 88 ¼ × 204 ¾ inches (224 × 520 cm)© Nengi Omuku. Photo: Prudence Cuming Associates Ltd

Nengi Omuku, Eden, 2022

Oil on sanyan, 88 ¼ × 204 ¾ inches (224 × 520 cm)
© Nengi Omuku. Photo: Prudence Cuming Associates Ltd

Alexandria Smith, Drifting on a memory, 2022 Mixed media on three-dimensional wood assemblage, 48 × 60 inches (121.9 × 152.4 cm)© Alexandria Smith. Photo: Prudence Cuming Associates Ltd

Alexandria Smith, Drifting on a memory, 2022

Mixed media on three-dimensional wood assemblage, 48 × 60 inches (121.9 × 152.4 cm)
© Alexandria Smith. Photo: Prudence Cuming Associates Ltd

Alexandria Smith, A time for those that remained, 2023 Mixed media on three-dimensional wood assemblage, 60 × 48 inches (152.4 × 121.9 cm)© Alexandria Smith. Photo: Prudence Cuming Associates Ltd

Alexandria Smith, A time for those that remained, 2023

Mixed media on three-dimensional wood assemblage, 60 × 48 inches (152.4 × 121.9 cm)
© Alexandria Smith. Photo: Prudence Cuming Associates Ltd

Sharon Walters, New Beginnings, 2023 Paper cut out, 23 ⅜ × 33 ⅛ inches (59.4 × 84.1 cm)© Sharon Walters. Photo: Prudence Cuming Associates Ltd

Sharon Walters, New Beginnings, 2023

Paper cut out, 23 ⅜ × 33 ⅛ inches (59.4 × 84.1 cm)
© Sharon Walters. Photo: Prudence Cuming Associates Ltd

About

Gagosian is pleased to present Rites of Passage at the Britannia Street gallery. Curated by Péjú Oshin, this exhibition features work by nineteen contemporary artists who share a history of migration.

Rites of Passage explores the idea of “liminal space,” a coinage of anthropologist Arnold van Gennep (1873–1957). In his 1909 book, after which the exhibition is titled, Van Gennep was among the first to observe that the transitional events of birth, puberty, marriage, and death are marked by ceremonies with a ritual function that transcends cultural boundaries. Highlighting this phenomenon in physical, mental, and spiritual arenas, Oshin’s exhibition challenges linear narratives through works in a variety of mediums, which fill Gagosian’s expansive Britannia Street gallery.

Rites of Passage is structured in correspondence with liminality’s three stages: separation, transition, and return. Each of these phases addresses the act of movement, not only through individual experience, but also in the broader context of community. The exhibition examines the status of postcolonial Black identity, specifically the “triple consciousness” experienced by members of the African diaspora when encountering counterparts who identify with local majority populations. The artists in the exhibition are further grouped together according to themes of tradition, spirituality, and place.

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Britannia Street, London

6–24 Britannia Street
London WC1X 9JD

+44 20 7841 9960
london@gagosian.com

Hours: Tuesday–Saturday 10–6

Artists

Tunji Adeniyi-Jones
Àsìkò
Phoebe Boswell
Adelaide Damoah
Femi Dawkins
Victor Ehikhamenor
Mary Evans
Ayesha Feisal
Enam Gbewonyo
Elsa James

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Ashleigh Barice
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Bolton & Quinn
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Erica Bolton
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Daisy Taylor
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