Ndox (Water) Altar I, 2023, 115 x 275cm, indigo dyed used cotton bedsheets, cotton thread and antique French pediment
Ndox (Water) Altar II, 2023, 110 x 165cm, indigo dyed used cotton bedsheets, cotton thread and antique French Napoleonic gilt brass pediment
Xob (Plant) Altar II, 2023, 147 x 140cm, used brushed cotton and cotton bedsheets, cowrie shells, cotton and cotton/acrylic thread and antique French Ormolu gilt bronze pediments
Xob (Plant) Altar I, 2023, 60 x 261cm, used cotton bedsheets, cowrie shells, cotton thread on vintage French pediment
Suuf (Earth) Altar I, 2023, 60 x 230cm, used cotton and polyester/ nylon bedsheets, cotton thread and vintage French floral and crown pediment
Dellu Costume - Water (Ndox), 2023, one size, indigo dyed used cotton bedsheets and cotton thread
Dellu Costume - Red Earth (Suuf), 2023, one size, used cotton and polyester/ nylon bedsheets, cotton and polyester thread and glass beads
Dellu Costume - Plant (Xob), 2023, one size, used cotton bedsheets, cotton thread and cowrie shells
Single-channel digital film (colour, sound), 5:36mins, 16:9 aspect ratio
Written and performed by: Enam Gbewonyo
Director: Fama Reyane Sow
Costume & Makeup: Enam Gbewonyo
DELLU/ The Return
DELLU (meaning The Return in Wolof) is a series of work commissioned by New Art Exchange (Nottingham, UK), made in 2023. The works began development at Black Rock Senegal artist residency, where Enam explored how French colonisation affected Senegalese women, the country’s strained history, as well as its rich traditions. Nature also plays a fundamental part in the work, informed by the striking backdrops to ritual performed in the performance film, and referenced in the colours and forms with which the costumes and textural works take shape. The works also comment on the issue of waste colonisation, all the pieces having been made of second-hand bedsheet material purchased at Dakar’s Cent Franc market, the city’s largest second-hand street market.