Ato Ribeiro Weaves Diasporic Futures from Recycled Wood

Entering the gallery, I am greeted by the verso of an artwork: What a Preventer of Life-Loss 5 (all works 2023) rests atop a pedestal, its thin extrusions of wood guiding me into the space. Comprised of painted ends and rough edges set at staggered lengths and covered in written marks, the sculpture divulges the history of the discarded scraps from which it is formed. Viewed from the front, these fragments all terminate on a single plane, revealing the complex patterning of this seemingly chaotic assemblage. By foregrounding this work, this exhibition establishes from the outset that material memory and thoughtful accumulation is of utmost importance to Ato Ribeiro.

The entrance is bookended by two wall-mounted works also in wood – Communication Coming In and Nevermind; Forget It – which, along with other pieces in the show, repeat patterns typical of Ghanaian Kente cloth, including ntata (chevron) and damedame (check). Mid-size at the start of the exhibition, the artworks gradually increase in scale as the installation unfolds in a counter-clockwise manner, until the final wall, on which hangs the almost five-metres-wide DUBle Up. Mimicking the construction of the works themselves – in which the artist conjoins wooden tiles of approximately 8 cm² to create ever-larger blocks – this expanding presentation impressed upon me the potential for intricacy from modularity.

Several of the artworks are titled some numeration of Untitled (Wooden Kente Quilt), alluding to the significance of these techniques and patterns. Traditional Kente, woven on a horizontal strip loom, features complex symbolism: sika futuro, for instance, is a red, orange and yellow cloth symbolic of the gold dust that was used as currency prior to coins or banknotes. These narrow weaves are combined to create large cloths, historically worn by individuals of royal or high social status. However, during the 20th and 21st centuries, Kente has been increasingly commodified for high-production, profit-minded outlets and exported around the world, resulting in products that feature similar colours and patterns as Kente cloth but are not of Ghanaian craftsmanship.

Ribeiro uses the rich vernacular of Kente as a framework upon which to weave diasporic stories. Simultaneous to this dissemination of Ghanaian cloth is the exportation of West African woods, such as ebony and sapele, to carpentry workshops around the world, from which Ribeiro collects scraps to use in her work. By translating Kente into wood, the artist alludes to this extraction of material resources from African countries, creating a matrix of meaning across continents and generations. Kente cloths, when completed, are often named in honour of historical events or individuals. Similarly, in works like Madan Sara, Ribeiro chooses to honour the titular group of Haitian women who harvest and distribute food without state assistance, suggesting a pan-African futurity within the global diaspora.

Although the majesty of monumental works like DUBle Up cannot be understated, the true delight of this show lies in the smaller pieces tucked away in crannies of the exhibition space. Untitled (Wooden Kente Quilt 54), for instance, which hangs on the wall framing a ‘staff only’ door, or Untitled (Wooden Kente Quilt 49), which is suspended in an alcove over the bathroom door. The decision to locate artworks in such hidden corners of the show recalls the search for materials that is central to Ribeiro’s practice. In this way, the exhibition enables the viewers’ own stories to become entwined with the artworks, adding a further layer to Ribeiro’s gathering of scattered narratives, through which meaning is both reinscribed and create anew.

Ato Ribeiro's 'Under Her Canopy' is on view at Museum of Contemporary Art of Georgia, Atlanta, until 14 October

_{Main image: Ato Ribeiro, Madan Sara, 2023, repurposed wood, HDPE, wood glue, 1.8 × 1.2 m. Courtesy: the artist and Museum of Contemporary Art of Georgia, Atlanta; photograph: Tom Meyer}