The exhibition ‘On Longing’ brings together the work of artists Mandy Franca (1989, NL) and Anthony Ngoya (1995, FR). Both artists explore the concept of collective memory and its role in shaping individual and communal identities. Their work communicates the complex intergenerational emotions of longing and nostalgia by layering materials and mediums.
Drawing from sources personal and collective such as family albums, personal archives, press, construction debris or urban scraps, the artists observe the meaning of mundanity and give value to seemingly insignificant places and objects. Franca investigates the preservation of languages, traditions, and domestic settings in the face of digitalization and globalisation, while Ngoya focuses on the construction of memory through processes of layering and diffusing images and materials.
Anthony Ngoya weaves strips of dyed textiles and found images into sculptural assemblages and transposes them onto found everyday objects or industrial debris. His ambiguous and amorphous compositions tackle unconscious structures and feelings through unexpected intimacies. Ngoya investigates how you can understand memory and identity as experience. Mandy Franca’s work interests at painting, print, drawing and collage using the photographic image as a recurring element. Franca’s work is an ongoing investigation into the notion of interconnectedness. She is linking individual experiences to communal contexts, highlighting the fundamental role of care in our shared humanity.
How can layering various materials in painterly and photographic sculptures transform them into carriers of intergenerational emotions and collective memory? The exhibition communicates the complex feelings of yearning and nostalgia associated with existence in a cross-cultural environment.