Where does reality and fantasy collide - In our subconscious? In our waking? As we dream?
The possibilities are endless. As we count our days in this infinite space and our personalities and aspirations are taken over by the mundane lives we live, our escape is to go to a place where we can shape a world that is desirable or undesirable. A world that is as far apart from our image of who we are and how we perceive reality. ‘Forethought’ is an exploration of such worlds.
It is an exploration of the silence we live in, a silence where our thoughts and feelings struggle to find expression. Out of this silence emerges Afu’s surreal worlds, where the reality of today metamorphosizes into fantastic alternative realities.
Some dreamlike and some narrating a future that seem impossible, Afu skilfully manipulates what is real. Perhaps for a moment when one is looking at it, one could twist realities to accept without doubt that the image in front us speaks the truth. In “Triumph of Man’, an elephant like structure walks towards us across a barren landscape of baobab trees which thrives in the harshest of environments. There is no human in sight. The mechanical elephant, an assemblage, is lumbering towards a future that is present and clear but also shrouded in uncertainty like the baobab trees disappearing in the distance. Another such example is the dream like ‘Sirens Call’, where figurative structures stand tall on a shore waiting for the ships to arrive. Will it end like in Odyssey in Greek mythology? Will they arrive at shore or be wrecked like Odysseus’s 12 ships? Interpretations are left open ended.
This collection of paintings gives the viewer an opportunity to delve deep into our own silent worlds, to showcase the fantastic places that we also occasionally visit, just like Afu, places with great meaning personally and as part of the community we live in. It also prompts us to wake up from a reality that does very little to advance our thoughts and focus on what really matters as we try to fulfil the various destinies that are laid out ahead of us.
‘Forethought’ tells us to break free from the ordered world and go to a place where reality and fantasy meet, which is where our real home is.
Words by Mohamed Faisal