January 21, 2021 - March 21, 2021
ESCAP3 Gallery presents 'Sacred' Curated By Madiha Sebbani, our third Group Exhibition opening Thursday 21 January – Thursday 21 March 2021. This is our first group exhibition to include international artists beyond Africa and the diaspora.
Participating Artists Include: Hicham Matini & Saad Nazih (Morocco); Hmoud Al Attawi, Ghada Al Rabee & Obaid Al Safi (Saudi Arabia); Tanisha Bhana, Bernard Brand, Allen Laing & Cow Mash (South Africa).
2020 Has undoubtedly been a year of catastrophe and uncertainty which has perhaps forced humanity to adapt, reflect on our habitual practices, our future existence, spiritual rituals and inherited values, and how the rapid increase in technological progress have on our everyday lives.
Inspired by Albert Einstein who said that: "life is sacred, that is to say that it is the supreme value, to which all other values are subordinate" and Frank Capra, the Italian film director, who said that: "A hunch, is creativity trying to tell you something" engaging the interior of an artist in its immaterial quality and its relationship with their artistic practice.
Reflecting on the notion of 'Sacred', I wanted to explore varying perspectives from artists whose creative practices are inseparable from their beliefs, and how they transmute this intimate relationship into their everyday lives and work. The exhibition investigates the sacred as a global value aiming at creating a dialogue and providing insight into the various methodologies employed by the artists to shed light on their sacred studio work.
About The Curator
Born 1991 in Salé, Morocco
Currently lives and works in London, United Kingdom
Madiha Sebbani is a multi-disciplinary artist who graduated from the National Institute for Fine Arts, Tétouan, in 2015. She is currently pursuing her Masters Degree in Public Art and New Artistic Strategies at the Bauhaus University in Germany. Endorsed by the British Art Council, in 2020 Sebbani was granted a Global Arts and Cultural Talent Visa to continue her research and practice in the United Kingdom. Madiha’s practice often consists of minimalist performances, inspired by daily Rituals and intimate gestures. These performative acts question our relationship to what is out of the ordinary and our ability to deviate from experimentation. Sebbani enjoys experimenting with different mediums to approach her creative sensibilities, such as combining different plastic forms and techniques, either embodied in installations, paintings, photographs, video, happenings or performances. Much of Sebbani’s research is influenced by power dynamics inherent from her upbringing at a military base.
In 2016, she participated in the 5th edition of the New Talents Biennale in Cologne, Germany, as well as a Residency and Solo Exhibition, Silent Treatment, in 2017 at the Kunstraum Fuhrwekswaage Art Centre, Köln, Germany as well as the COFA Cologne Fine Art & Design Fair. Madiha has recently returned from an Artist In Residency at the Kunstmeile Krems Betriebs GmbH, Krems, Austria. In 2018 Madiha also curated the international travelling Group Exhibition, YMA (Young Moroccan Artists), at Sulger-Buel Gallery in London, the DEG Bank in Cologne, as well as New York and Washington D.C, United States of America. Her work forms part of the KFW DEG Bank of Germany Bridge Collection.
