YEMI AWOSILE
FORTY-SEVENTH SAMSARA

2023

WITHIN THE FRAME OF THE ART & INDUSTRY TRIENNIAL
WITH THE FRAC GRAND LARGE – HAUTS-DE-FRANCE
DUNKIRK, FRANCE

Born in 1984, Yemi Awosile is a contemporary British artist whose sculptural installations and works on paper explore the themes of identity, memory and culture based on a minimalist and geometric aesthetic approach. The broader scope of her work bridges design and visual arts through social interventions. She has a degree in visual arts from Goldsmiths University and trained as a textile designer at the Royal College of Art and the Chelsea College of Art in London. Yemi Awosile is also a associate lecturer at Goldsmiths University of London. Her work has been exhibited in several collective and solo exhibitions in Europe and the United States. Her recent projects include collaborations with the Tent Rotterdam art centre, the Tate Gallery and the British Council. Her research into materials can be seen in the collection of textiles at the Victoria and Albert Museum in London, and she was recently commissioned to create two permanent public artworks in London.

As part of its support to emerging contemporary creation and on the occasion of the 2023 Art & Industry triennial, the Rubis Mécénat endowment fund is supporting British artist and textile designer Yemi Awosile to create two monumental textile artworks to cover the façade of Hall AP2 at the Frac Grand Large – Hauts-de-France museum in Dunkirk.

Entitled Forty-seventh Samsara, the installation by Yemi Awosile is deployed on the façade of Hall AP2 of the Frac Grand Large museum in Dunkirk. As an artist and designer, she drew inspiration from the geometric designs found in the archives of the textile factories of Roubaix. These ‘weaving diagrams’ were used to prepare the weaving operations and also symbolise the advent of the industrial revolution. Attached to a steel frame, the flexible yet sturdy fabric cut-offs form abstract symbols that defy time and the wind. The fabrics represent living archives, a record of our times, while also addressing the heritage that is being constantly passed on through the objects and materials that surround us, and exploring the relationship between the United Kingdom and France through their unique history of textile manufacturing and production.

Practical information
Art & Industry triennial Human Warmth
Curated by Anna Colin and Camille Richert
10 June 2023 – 14 January 2024
Dunkirk / Hauts-de-France
www.triennale.fr