As part of The Show is Over at the South London Gallery, Las Nietas de Nonó have created a new installation work titled después de todo territorio. The work was made following a residency at the gallery, which was the artist’s first time in London. Find out more about their time at the SLG, their practice and the new work in our interview with the artists.
“This is our first time in London. We have exhibited here before, at Raven Row Gallery, for a group show, 56 Artillery Lane, curated by Amy Budd and Naomi Pearce in 2017. For the community project we co-founded in our hometown called Parceleras Afrocaribeñas, we have been supported by The Sigrid Rausing Trust. Mapenzi was surprised to find breadfruit in Peckham Road.”
“The residency gives us the opportunity to reflect on themes such as: migration, food, memory and displacement. It also gives us the opportunity to have time and space to deepen it within our practice. We have had the opportunity to engage with other Londoners by inviting them for a meal in order to reflect on food and memory. This space is part of a methodology we are still developing. During this gathering people were able to share experiences, ideas and reflections that we feel so humble to witness.”
Microhistory is very urgent, and how these microhistories fit into the collective history. It’s been a priority in our work to depart from these microhistories that have been made invisible. Our approach is to insert them in a context that resignifies them.
– Las Nietas de Nonó in an interview with BOMB Magazine, 2018
Las Nietas de Nonó also presented the film work FOODTOPIA: después de todo territorio, 2021 as part of The Show is Over. FOODTOPIA explores the over-industrialisation of food in the Caribbean. The film is set in the Blasina stream which is located in the San Antón barrio in Puerto Rico where the artists are based. The Blasina stream is an area threatened by development and water extraction. Puerto Rico is categorised as ‘an unincorporated U.S. territory’. In their search for a “foodtopia”, the artists reflect on the conditions of both utopia and dystopia inherent in life on an island that still holds a colonial status.
“For this new work, called: después de todo territorio, we wanted to work with materials and elements that were already present in the film in other forms. The coconut fiber, found paper produce for transporting bananas from Ecuador, tools that we already used for gathering food like rope and wire. Other materials like for example, the fabric, are translations for the route we took every day. This fabric hides a route on the back of it – its color coding can be deciphered. In the film we have to find food in order to sustain ourselves, our body, mind, spirit and with this version we wanted to work with what was available to us.”
I’m interested in working in studio and collaborative spaces. But really, I don’t think what we do can be contained in any single space or in a studio as such. We move around a lot; I’m also a community organizer. Our practice is dedicated to having conversations with people, exploring places, walking, sharing knowledge with the elders.
– mulowayi iyaye nonó in an interview with MoMA, 2022.
Visit Las Nietas de Nonó’s después de todo territorio, 2022 at the South London Gallery as part of The Show is Over, on until 4 September 2022.
Las Nietas de Nonó, después de todo territorio, 2022. Installation at the South London Gallery.
Las Nietas de Nonó, después de todo territorio, 2022. Installation at the South London Gallery.