Central to Ima-Abasi Okon’s practice as a visual artist is a preoccupation with knowledge and its production. Working across print, sculpture and moving image, she works with everyday objects and systems, often removing their function to raise questions about value, productivity and excess. A recent presentation – Infinite Slippage: nonRepugnant Insolvencies T!-a!-r!-r!-y!-i!-n!-g! as Hand Claps of M’s Hard’Loved’Flesh [I’M irreducibly-undone because] —Quantum Leanage-Complex-Dub (Chisenhale Gallery, 2019) – was formed of a series of industrial air conditioners that acted as both a cooling system for the gallery and a vehicle for Okon’s sound work.
There’s something in the conversation that is more interesting than the finality of a (title) (The Showroom London, 2018) – similarly broke down the notion of everyday objects, setting out the terms under which Okon would make and supply the host gallery with dishwasher tablets.
Ima-Abasi Okon’s current research seeks to “maximise magic as a sculptural act and explore faith as a technology which operates as a form of forensics for future-otherwise-possibilities.” Borrowed from Ashon T. Crawley, the term ‘Otherwise Possibilities’ suggests a realm that is necessary for the futurity of racialised bodies and to disrupt the current organisation of power across gender and class.