Since May 26th, Die Kunstagentin gallery in Cologne, Germany has been hosting a solo exhibition by the internationally acclaimed artist Addam Yekutieli aka Know Hope.
Titled ‘The Truth, As Told In Our Mother Tongue’, the show continues Know Hope’s research on the nature of borders, patriotism and national identity, focusing in this occasion on the current refugee crisis.
The exhibition includes a large site-specific installation built inside the gallery space showing the cutout image of a migrating flock of birds flying towards a hole in the midst of layers of fences spanning the gallery space, reflecting in this way on concepts like, migration, displacement and of course also suggesting ‘a sense of destination, an overcoming, a paradigm shift and ad-hoc ‘nesting’. This brings us to the next installation. Placed in the center of the gallery space you will find a bird’s nest, made of the unraveled wires taken from those same holes in the fence, with a group of birds nesting inside of it.
The new body of work represents Know Hope’s first comprehensive showing of his ‘Transparency series’, where the image of the fence becomes predominant. According to the artist, the Transparency series consists of pieces in which in which collage canvases with the fence pattern are painted over in white paint, and where the fence ‘composes’ the body of Know Hope’s iconic silhouettes. As expressed in a recent interview with Doze Magazine (here), the new work gives shape to a personification of the political situation today while urging a sense of empathy and recognising.
In ‘The Truth, As Told In Our Mother Tongue’, there is in this way an attempt to portray the emotional complexity of displacement, the changing and elusive nature of the concept of ‘homeland’ and ultimately the adaption to a new reality created by circumstance. An emotive and poetic exhibition that speaks of empathy and understanding in a difficult time.
‘The Truth, As Told In Our Mother Tongue’ runs through July 16, 2016 at the gallery located on Maastrichter Str. 26, 50672 Köln, Germany.
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Image by the artist
Author: Fran
Founder and editor of Urbanite. Street Art lover who after the finishing her MA thesis on the Mexican and Norwegian muralist movement in the 1920-50s, developed a fascination for street art and graffiti that eventually led to collaborations with different art blogs, including the creation of this one.
