No. 37: Sarah Nsikak
Fallen Leaves by Aki Kaurismäki, Zora Neale Hurston quote, photograph by Ken Geiger, a Cartagena trip and a STRFKR concert
Sarah Nsikak is a Brooklyn-based textile artist and designer from Oklahoma City. After working in the fashion industry and seeing firsthand the waste generated daily, she returned to her art practice which uses recycled textiles often sourced from estate sales & vintage stores in New York. Sarah’s handstitched wall panels made of textiles that are over 100 years old are hanging alongside a collection of 32 oil lamps by Lindsey Adelman at TIWA Gallery’s show “A Realm of Light”. From Sarah –
I. a film
Fallen Leaves by Aki Kaurismäki. I watched this film a couple of months ago and I haven’t been able to stop thinking about it. I’m really impressed by directors who know how to capture the nuance and beauty of mundanity. Going through day to day life, working a job, feeling like a cog in a machine, falling in love, choosing yourself.. It’s really powerful how he used so little to communicate themes we all understand deeply. It’s such a beautiful film shot in this nostalgic and poetic way that films just aren’t made anymore.
II. a quote
“There are years that ask questions and years that answer” - Zora Neale Hurston
I saw this quote on a post-it note on my friend's bathroom mirror. It’s been rolling around in my head ever since.
III. a photograph
Nigerian Relay Team winning bronze in Barcelona by Ken Geiger, 1992. Nigeria’s 2nd relay medal. This photo makes me cry. It’s so beautiful for so many reasons. I was a sprinter for many years, and I’ll never forget the lessons it taught me or the endorphin high it gave me. It connected me with my body from a young age, and I’m grateful for the way my body it works, heals, grows.. This photo has been with me for decades and it reminds me of what community, hard work and diligence can bring you to, a photo of pure bliss. Not to mention the electric blue eyeliner that sends me.
IV. a place
Cartagena, Columbia. I think this city is really special and full of love. Maybe I’m biased because my friend recently got married here.. But I’ve been thinking about ways to go back and spend more time there. It’s on the beach, so vibrant and colorful, the architecture is well preserved and incredible. And the food.. it’s a paradise in my opinion, and only a 5 hr flight from NYC. I feel lucky to have gotten to experience it for a few days.
V. a show
STRFKR who I never really listened to before. I don’t really like going to shows anymore, maybe I’m just getting old, but they make me grumpy. I don’t like the skin on skin of it all… the trying to dance but not really being able to without stepping on someone, spilling a drink, etc. I went with my good friend to a show where we had the space to dance and there was no line at the bar and no one’s breath on our necks and we could see the entire time. You look down and see all the people who showed up to experience the band’s art in such a visceral way, and they’re all going nuts.. the band was so fun to watch. It reinvigorated my love for live music. The day after I listened to their new album on my work commute and wow. It really lit me up, I have to highly recommend STRFKR’s album Parallel Realms. It’s a real mood lift.
~ bulletin ~
los angeles
On view: Maia Ruth Lee’s hold shimmer wind opens Saturday at François Ghebaly. Chang Ya Chin’s Stories of Stories opens on Saturday at Half Gallery. Ryan Sullivan, Sebastian Silva, Roberto Matta: All Things Are Changing in All Dimensions, JB Blunk, and pascALEjandro shows open Saturday at Blum. Phil Davis’ Chorus at Fernberger. Vanessa Beecroft’s Broken Arm at Wilding Cran opens Saturday. Camille Claudel sculptures at the Getty Museum. Clare Woods’s I Blame Nature and Coco Young’s Passage at Night Gallery. Bella Foster’s It was a Dark and Stormy Night at the Pit. Andrew Kerr’s Mitty Mag opens at Matthew Brown Gallery tomorrow. Marcus Brutus’ Lotus Blossom at Harper’s. John McAllister’s Sometimes Splendid Seeming… Stellar Even.. Ripping at James Fuentes. Ed Ruscha’s Now Then at LACMA. Yoora Lee’s Shadow Etched in Stone at Nicodim. Basquiat at Gagosian.
new york
On view: Lindsey Adelman’s A Realm of Light — a collection of oil lamps — featuring Sarah’s panels at TIWA Gallery. Simone Bodmer-Turner’s A Year Without A Kiln at Emma Scully Gallery. Dubuffet x Giacometti at Nahmad Contemporary. Sleeping Beauties: Reawakening Fashion at the Met. Second solo exhibition of French-American artist Niki de Saint Phalle, featuring five works of her late-career Tableaux Éclatés, at Salon 94. Alessandro Twombly’s Etruscan Painting at Amanita. Andy Woll at 1969 Gallery. Kazuyuki Takezaki’s Before Spring at 47 Canal. Lauren Quin’s Logopanic at 125 Newbery. Sedrick Chisom’s … And 108 Prayers of Evil at Clearing. Jennifer Rochlin and Mary Heilmann’s Daydream Nation at Hauser & Wirth 22nd St. Eve Ackroyd’s Second Body at Turn Gallery. Frank Lebon’s One Blood at Entrance. Yves Klein and the Tangible World at Lévy Gorvy Dayan. Group show A Study in Form (Chapter Two) at James Fuentes curated by Arden Wohl featuring Ann Craven, Jenna Gribbon and over 70 other artists. Rob Davis’s The Golden at Broadway. Joe Bradley’s Vom Abend and Amadeo Luciano Lorenzato at David Zwirner. Toshiko Takaezu: Worlds Within at Noguchi Museum.
Saturday: Boreum Hill Design Night along Atlantic — Primary Essentials, Outline, Assembly Line and more.
Affection Archives is a weekly look into the archives of yours truly (Arielle Eshel) and humans I admire. If you’d like to add an event to the bulletin, DM @affectionarchives or reply to this email.