Claire Oliver Gallery is pleased to announce the debut solo exhibition by artist Adebunmi Gbadebo, A Dilemma of Inheritance. The exhibition will showcase the artist’s True Blue series which is comprised of more than 45 works that grapple with concepts surrounding heredity and the evolution of memory and forgetting focused on two former slave plantations in South Carolina, both named True Blue.
Gbadebo’s conception behind the exhibition and its naming was sparked by author Ta-Nehisi Coates’ exploration of patrimony and the inheritance of status in his case for reparations, stating “We recognize our lineage as a generational trust, as inheritance, and the real dilemma posed by reparations is just that: a dilemma of inheritance. It is impossible to imagine America without the inheritance of slavery.” Within this inquiry, materiality is central to Gbadebo’s work, she employs Black hair, rice paper, cotton and indigo to create works that are visceral portraits of human narratives that have been erased by history.