Lines of Dissent, Dzifa Benson and the Genealogy of the Richmond Borough Art Collection
View of an unknown person pasting photographs. Recently developed photograph from glass plate negative, from c.1889. Burton Collection
Multidisciplinary artist Dzifa Benson’s new exhibition was initially motivated by the lack of work made by women in the Richmond Borough Art Collection. Using this as a starting point, Dzifa reveals untold stories and overlooked people hidden in the archive.
Dzifa, collaborating with Beatrice McDermott who leads the Programming Team at Orleans House Gallery, presents pieces from the collection as a strand of Richmond DNA. Much like the BBC’s Who Do You Think You Are? Dzifa invites contemporary artists from the worlds of poetry, theatre and music to investigate this group of artworks in order to expose their invisible inheritances and legacies. As Dzifa’s interrogation of the collection unfolds, the exhibition also uncovers encounters of all kinds including colonisation, love, resilience, migration, trade and architecture.
We want the Richmond Borough Art Collection to reflect the lives of people living in Richmond today, mapping out a shared sense of identity and place. Addressing who and what have been excluded from the collection exposes past injustices and present inequalities thereby ensuring that its future is more inclusive.
Nodding towards the number of chromosomes inherited by each of our parents, the show responds to 23 items from the Richmond Borough Art Collection. The show begins its journey with work presented alongside poems and provocations by Dzifa, which set the stage for even more contemporary responses to come throughout the duration of the show. Keep your eyes peeled across our digital platforms to be the first to find out when these additional instalments will commence.
Artists to come:
Annalisa Banello
About Dzifa
Dzifa Benson is a multi-disciplinary live artist who uses literature as her primary mode of expression. The intersections between science, art, the body and ritual animate Dzifa’s practice. She explores this through poetry, storytelling, theatre, performance, libretti, essay, journalism and a range of other media. She also embraces education, collaboration and participation at the heart of her practice. She is interested in site-specific work as well as subverting the use of existing spaces.
