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Denver artist Sarah Rockett’s roots and close-knit community in New Orleans were torn apart by Hurricane Katrina; now, as a transplant to the West, she’s been looking for ways to re-create the cultural solidarity she left behind.
It’s no small task to bring people, specifically local artists, together from a Babel of backgrounds, regardless of where you live, but Rockett found a focus point in the Nkisi Nkondi power figures of Africa’s Congo basin, and the collaborative installation, The Nkisi Project, was born. The first leg of what she hopes will become an ongoing, traveling project, opens tonight as part of Ice Cube Gallery’s InGrained group show.
“The main goal behind the work is to get artists out of their individual solitary studios and working with one another, sharing ideas, finding common ground, learning from one another and developing a stronger creative community,” Rockett explains, adding that the process has been enlightening. “Working with others is the best way to learn more about yourself. I appreciate the nuances of each individual personality, but am also able to see how we are all so human, share many of the same fears and have similar experiences. There is something truly awe-inspiring in the vastness of our differences and coincidence of our sameness.”
See what else the thirty participating artists came up with at the opening reception, 6 to 9 p.m. at Ice Cube, 3320 Walnut Street; InGrained and The Nkisi Project stay up through December 20. For information and gallery hours, visit icecubegallery.com.
Fri., Dec. 12, 6-9 p.m.; Thursdays-Saturdays. Starts: Dec. 12. Continues through Dec. 20, 2014
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