Tabita RezaireOMI: Yemoja Temple, 2024
Installation with sound and indigo-dyed cotton fabric, wood, zip ties, calabashes, ceramics, cowrie shells, water, honey, coconut flakes, indigo vat.
Variable Dimensions
The ‘OMI: Yemoja Temple’ is a space created by Tabita Rezaire in collaboration with artist-architect Yussef Agbo-Ola, dedicated to the deity Yemoja, the mother of rivers and water in West African Yoruba culture and its diaspora. In this culture, water is imbued with profound significance, and the ritual of pouring liquid is a significant form of offering. The work focuses on water as the source of life. The conceptual foundation was laid by a research trip that Rezaire and Agbo-Ola undertook with the scientists Alex Jordan and Anja Wegner from the Max Planck Institute of Animal Behavior in Konstanz. Their research took them to Tanzania, where they studied the local water fauna including fish, corals, and micro-organisms.
