A new London exhibition and event series is exploring the meaning of ‘home’ as it relates to the city’s African and Caribbean diaspora communities. The show is a collaborative effort between the founders of Saint Ogun rum and Home, a multifunctional creative space established by photographer and fashion designer Ronan McKenzie.
The exhibition runs 2 – 5 December 2021, at Home’s north London space, and features a range of locally based artists including Latoya Okuneye, Sean Adeyemi, Antoinette Yetunde Oni, Cherif Douamba, and Liz Naomi, all of whom were selected as part of an open call.
From the Saint Ogun x Home exhibition
The events calendar includes a flag-making workshop with designer Halina Edwards that explores the history and symbolism behind flags; an open mic afternoon exploring the idea of ‘home’ through the spoken word and poetry; and a family portrait session with Ronan McKenzie.
The exhibition and corresponding events encourage people to come together under one roof, to engage in dialogue with each other, to celebrate their communities, and to give ear to exciting creative voices. It is these very tenets that gave rise to Home in the first place.
Works by Robbie Spotswood from the Saint Ogun x Home exhibition
As McKenzie said upon Home’s opening last year: ‘A new art space concept is desperately needed, not only because the representation within most gallery spaces is still not diverse enough to respond to and appreciate the incredibly vast talent that is currently working, but no spaces are able to offer programming that has community and artistic development at the heart of its practice.’
For this reason, the collaboration between Home and Saint Ogun’s founders, Nic Akinnibosun and Rico Oyejobi, seemed like a natural one. ‘Home is a space championing a community of voices and stories that typically aren’t always front and centre, in really artful and insightful ways,’ say the pair. ‘From our inception, we’ve had a similar standpoint in wanting to flip the conventional in an expressive way that highlights grassroots talent.’
Saint Ogun founders Nic Akinnibosun and Rico Oyejobi
Saint Ogun launched in 2020 and quickly garnered acclaim for its rum, crafted from five celebrated distilleries across Jamaica, Guyana and Barbados, including Demerara and Foursquare. The brand’s distinctive bottle design and name (Ogun is a Nigerian spirit known for craft, invention, and rum) hark back to Akinnibosun and Oyejobi's Caribbean and African heritage, as well as their London roots.
That blend of cultures is what inspired the duo and McKenzie to make this exhibition focus on the meaning of ‘home’.
‘“Home”, as a concept, is usually something that offers familiarity and comfort,’ Akinnibosun and Oyejobi say.
Saint Ogun rum
‘That said, a lot of us have a duality or multiplicity to reckon with and that sense of “home”, or connections with elsewhere, aren’t always static, singular or even overly familiar. Through this exhibition and programme, we wanted to show the various sides of the word and how it connects to identity, potentially having a different meaning for each of us.’
When asked what ‘home’ means to them, the pair respond: ‘It’s always personal, it’s a place you sometimes feel you need to be in and close to, but equally, distance from it offers a perspective that helps you understand it even better.’
INFORMATION
‘Home X Saint Ogun One Year Anniversary Exhibition’, 2 – 5 December 2021
-
Tranquil and secluded, Lemaire’s new Tokyo flagship exudes a sense of homeIn Tokyo’s Ebisu neighbourhood, Lemaire’s tranquil new store sees the French brand take over a former 1960s home. Co-artistic directors Christophe Lemaire and Sarah-Linh Tran tell Wallpaper* more
-
‘I wanted to create a sanctuary’ – discover a nature-conscious take on Balinese architectureUmah Tsuki by Colvin Haven is an idyllic Balinese family home rooted in the island's crafts culture
-
‘Concrete Dreams’: rethinking Newcastle’s brutalist pastA new project and exhibition at the Farrell Centre in Newcastle revisits the radical urban ideas that changed Tyneside in the 1960s and 1970s
-
Celebrate Día de los Muertos at one of London (and the world’s) finest Mexican restaurantsDía de los Muertos will arrive at KOL in Marylebone on 2 November, with a collaborative menu including dishes from the chefs behind Endo at The Rotunda to The Connaught, wrapped up with a mezcal fiesta
-
Mark’s Club’s interior refresh brings British countryside charm to the heart of MayfairLocated in a classic Mayfair townhouse, Mark’s Club unveils its new interiors, from greenhouse extensions to a new open-plan layout full of trinkets and charm
-
Frogs legs to fromage: Café François is London’s newest French canteen, serving up all the classics with a contemporary global twistThe founders of Mayfair's Maison François have opened a new addition, Café François. The Borough-based canteen offers an array of French classics from dawn to dusk
-
Dramatic and immersive, Dosa dishes up Korean cuisine with a moody flairThe Mandarin Oriental Mayfair welcomes Dosa, a new Korean restaurant by Akira Back
-
Yauatcha’s bespoke mooncakes mark the start of delicious celebrations for Mid-Autumn FestivalYauatcha, London’s Chinese dim sum teahouse, celebrates Mid-Autumn Festival (17 September) with three flavours of limited-edition mooncakes
-
Why bread is back on the menuGone are the days of carb-avoidant diets dominating restaurant menus. Food Critic, Leonie Cooper, celebrates the return of pillowy, inventive bread as London's stand-out dish
-
Birley Chocolate hits the sweet ’n’ chic spot in London’s ChelseaThe new Birley Chocolate shop, a sibling to Birley Bakery, is a confection of colour as delicious as its finely crafted goods
-
The London tequila bars well worth a shotOur resident spirits writer Neil Ridley explores London’s best places to enjoy the finest agave-based spirits
