Multi Media Installation, 2021 - 2023
The Relic Travellers’ Alliance: Assembly 1 & 2 are a series of life size figures, a representation of the Relic Travellers which appeared in the series of Relic Traveller films. Relic Traveller builds on themes of lost testimony, fallen empire, and displacement, marking and questioning what is remembered and what will remain. A constantly evolving project, Relic Traveller speaks to the artist’s personal journey, which has been presented both as an archive, and as documentation of a vision of the future.
The figures have appeared in various installations including, Relic Traveller: Where You & I Come From, We Know That We Are Not Here Forever at PHI Foundation, Montreal (2021-22), Wayfinder (across multiple sites 2022 - 2023) and as part of Science Fiction: Voyage to the Edge of Imagination (2022 - 2023) at the Science Museum, London. The Science Fiction exhibition was an ambitious, immersive experience designed by creative studio, Framestore, in collaboration with P&P Projects, and curated by the Science Museum Group.
Incorporating an array of different elements, the Relic Traveller project has been ongoing since 2017. Presented as modified MiG pilot pressure suits, displaying the Relic Traveller flag patches, these figures traipse across a multitude of landscapes set alongside a narrative that gathers the voices of collective memories to rethink colonialism, postcolonialism, Africanism, and Pan-Africanism. These reflections generate a unique vocabulary to problematize and resist current discourse and trends. What, and who, is marking and shaping history, and who is allowed to leave a trace? Experiences of diaspora, the importance of family and genealogical roots, and the significance of preservation and imagination all contribute to his project of creating a universe for everyone.
Photos by Reece Straw and Richard-Max Tremblay
The Relic Travellers’ Alliance: Assembly 1 & 2 at PHI Foundation,Turner Contemporary, MK Gallery, Baltic Centre for Contemporary Art and the Science Museum