Artist: Anna Binta Diallo
Exhibition title: Wanderings
Venue: Towards, Toronto, Canada
Date: October 4 – November 2, 2019
Photography: all images copyright and courtesy of the artist and Towards, Toronto
Towards is pleased to present Wanderings, a solo exhibition by Anna Binta Diallo ~~~~
Developed primarily during a residency at the Banff Centre earlier this year, the work within the exhibition expands on her ongoing investigation into themes of migration, displacement, personal mythologies, and the relationship between language, history, and identity.
Taking the form of a large scale, site-specific installation, Diallo creates an immersive environment with a multitude of characters. Employing a mix of both collage and sculpture, the silhouettes of human and animal forms are constructed from a variety of source material. Spanning science, literature, and historical photography, the characters within the staging reference a diverse set of stories – extending to creation myths, autobiographical accounts and forgotten histories.
As the stories we tell ourselves shift and transform over time, at the center of Diallo’s work remains a fundamental question – How does one try to reconcile the complex, and often times conflicting elements of one’s own identity?
Anna Binta Diallo is a Montreal-based artist whose work investigates the role that memory and nostalgia play in shaping how we construct both our personal and broader cultural identities.
She was born in Dakar (Senegal, 1983) and raised in Saint-Boniface, Winnipeg on the traditional territory of Anishinaabeg, Cree, Oji-Cree, Dakota, and Dene peoples, and the homeland of the Métis Nation. She completed her BFA at the University of Manitoba’s School of Fine Arts (2006) and received her MFA from the Transart Institue in Berlin (2013).
She has exhibited both nationally and internationally including exhibitions in Winnipeg, Montreal, and Berlin.
Recently, she was included in the group exhibition Geographies of Imagination, part of a broader event: DisOthering: Beyond Afropolitan & Other Labels, a collaboration between BOZAR Centre for Fine Arts in Brussels and SAVVY Contemporary in Berlin. In 2020 her work will be included in Notions of place, from Belonging to Displacement, an exhibition at the Keuruu Museum in Central Finland.
Anna Binta Diallo, Wanderings (Installation View), 2019, Collage printed on Photo-Tex Adhesive Fabric, Dimensions Vary
Anna Binta Diallo, Wanderings (Installation View), 2019, Collage printed on Photo-Tex Adhesive Fabric, Dimensions Vary
Anna Binta Diallo, Wanderings (Installation View), 2019, Collage printed on Photo-Tex Adhesive Fabric, Dimensions Vary
Anna Binta Diallo, Wanderings (Installation View), 2019, Collage printed on Photo-Tex Adhesive Fabric, Dimensions Vary
Anna Binta Diallo, Il est parti, from the “Wanderings” Series, 2019, Collage printed on Photo-Tex Adhesive Fabric
Anna Binta Diallo, Wanderings (Installation View), 2019, Collage printed on Photo-Tex Adhesive Fabric, Dimensions Vary
Anna Binta Diallo, Wanderings (Installation View), 2019, Collage printed on Photo-Tex Adhesive Fabric, Dimensions Vary
Anna Binta Diallo, Ocean Trawlers 2, from the “Wanderings” Series, 2019, Collage printed on Photo-Tex Adhesive Fabric
Anna Binta Diallo, Wanderings (Installation View), 2019, Collage printed on Photo-Tex Adhesive Fabric, Dimensions Vary
Anna Binta Diallo, L’Homme, from the “Wanderings” Series, 2019, Collage printed on Photo-Tex Adhesive Fabric
Anna Binta Diallo, Wanderings (Installation View), 2019, Collage printed on Photo-Tex Adhesive Fabric, Dimensions Vary
Anna Binta Diallo, Man 1, from the “Wanderings” Series, 2019, Collage printed on Photo-Tex Adhesive Fabric
Anna Binta Diallo, La Canadienne, from the “Wanderings” Series, 2019, Collage printed on Photo-Tex Adhesive Fabric
Anna Binta Diallo, Wanderings (Installation View), 2019, Collage printed on Photo-Tex Adhesive Fabric, Dimensions Vary
Anna Binta Diallo, Red Feather, from the “Wanderings” Series, 2019, Collage printed on Photo-Tex Adhesive Fabric
Anna Binta Diallo, Wanderings (Installation View), 2019, Collage printed on Photo-Tex Adhesive Fabric, Dimensions Vary
Anna Binta Diallo, Wanderings (Installation View), 2019, Collage printed on Photo-Tex Adhesive Fabric, Dimensions Vary
Anna Binta Diallo, Wanderings (Installation View), 2019, Collage printed on Photo-Tex Adhesive Fabric, Dimensions Vary
Anna Binta Diallo, Wanderings (Installation View), 2019, Collage printed on Photo-Tex Adhesive Fabric, Dimensions Vary
Anna Binta Diallo, Man 2, from the “Wanderings” Series, 2019, Collage printed on Photo-Tex Adhesive Fabric
Anna Binta Diallo, Turtle, from the “Wanderings” Series, 2019, Collage printed on Photo-Tex Adhesive Fabric mounted on MDF Wood-Composite
Anna Binta Diallo, Wanderings (Installation View), 2019, Collage printed on Photo-Tex Adhesive Fabric, Dimensions Vary
Anna Binta Diallo, Wanderings (Installation View), 2019, Collage printed on Photo-Tex Adhesive Fabric, Dimensions Vary
Anna Binta Diallo, Whispering Doves, from the “Wanderings” Series, 2019, Collage printed on Photo-Tex Adhesive Fabric mounted on Aluminum composite
Anna Binta Diallo, Purple Dress with Wolf, from the “Wanderings” Series, 2019, Collage printed on Photo-Tex Adhesive Fabric
Anna Binta Diallo, Wanderings (Installation View), 2019, Collage printed on Photo-Tex Adhesive Fabric, Dimensions Vary
Anna Binta Diallo, Sitting Child, from the “Wanderings” Series, 2019, Collage printed on Photo-Tex Adhesive Fabric mounted on MDF Wood-Composite
Anna Binta Diallo, Turtle Island and Children, from the “Wanderings” Series, 2019, Collage printed on Photo-Tex Adhesive Fabric
Anna Binta Diallo, Sitting Women 2, from the “Wanderings” Series, 2019, Collage printed on Photo-Tex Adhesive Fabric
Anna Binta Diallo, Wanderings (Installation View), 2019, Collage printed on Photo-Tex Adhesive Fabric, Dimensions Vary
Anna Binta Diallo, Whispering Doves, from the “Wanderings” Series, 2019, Collage printed on Photo-Tex Adhesive Fabric mounted on Aluminum composite
Anna Binta Diallo, Wanderings (Installation View), 2019, Collage printed on Photo-Tex Adhesive Fabric, Dimensions Vary
Anna Binta Diallo, Wanderings (Installation View), 2019, Collage printed on Photo-Tex Adhesive Fabric, Dimensions Vary