Art Antwerp by Art Brussels 2024: Solo presentation of Samuel Nnorom

In celebration of Art Antwerp by Art Brussels, Galerie REVEL is delighted to present Giving Form to the Whole World, the Belgian debut solo exhibition of multi-award-winning artist Samuel Nnorom. 

Born in Nigeria, Samuel Nnorom’s practice operates at the intersection of sculpture and tapestry, following in the footsteps of artists like El Anatsui and Yinka Shonibare.

Using Ankara fabrics sourced from local markets, Nnorom stitches, ties, and wraps these materials around discarded foam to create abstract sculptural forms which climb the walls like flourishing vines. His creations are composed of hundreds of fabric-covered "bubbles” which together form what the artist describes as a "social fabric," a metaphor for the interconnectedness of human experience.

The unique shape of these works also invites pareidolia, the tendency to recognize familiar patterns in abstract forms, prompting viewers to perceive landscapes, urban structures, organic cells, or endless mazes. In this way, these visual representations evoke the ties that bind us across cultural and historical divides.

Giving Form to the Whole-World invites viewers to engage with Nnorom’s work through the lens of Édouard Glissant’s Tout-Monde (Whole-World). Glissant’s framework, which includes the concept of Relation, considers how cultures continuously intersect and reshape one another in an interconnected world. Nnorom’s practice embodies this relational philosophy, both in the structure of his creations and the materials he employs. For Nnorom, Ankara fabric, rooted in colonial histories and cross-cultural exchange, serves as a charged site for cultural transformation. In manipulating this material, Nnorom reflects and nuances to Glissant’s proposition by giving form to how cultures organically and continuously intersect, adapt, and evolve.

Working around the themes of Colonial history, Geographical identity, Globalization, Sociopolitical structures and the human conditions, environmental impact, Samuel Nnorom’s sculptures are visual metaphors made from offcuts of Ankara fabric, the wax printed cloth now synonymous with African textiles. The production of Ankara has its origins in Indonesia, before the designs were co-opted for commercial use by Dutch merchants during the Dutch colonization of Indonesia. It was introduced in West and Central Africa through Black soldiers recruited by the Dutch colonial empire for service in the colonial army. In this way, Nnorom’s use of the salvaged fabric forms a critical observation around artisanal provenance, and the impact of global trade on geographical identity.