Nengi Omuku's The Lighthouse (2021) is currently on view in The Poetics of Dimensions at ICA San Francisco. Curated by Larry Ossei-Mensah, the exhibition runs until February 23, 2025.
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The Poetics of Dimensions illuminates artists who transform everyday objects—durags, shoelaces, felt, leather, single-use plastic—into powerful artistic expressions. Grounded in exploration and experimentation, these works alchemize “non-art” materials into poetic landscapes. Like poetry, visual art has the capacity to dive beneath the surface and reveal new perspectives on invisible forces around us. This exhibition finds the beauty in the unnoticed and the extraordinary in the mundane.
Each work on view is an homage to overlooked histories—amplifying voices, perspectives, and materials long consigned to the periphery. Artists pull from their cultural heritage, personal narratives, and social realities to forge a unique aesthetic language that resonates across boundaries. The Poetics of Dimensions encourages viewers to explore the dynamic relationship between form, function, and meaning and reconsider materials that shape our world.
Artists: Anthony Akinbola, Miguel Arzabe, Sonia Gomes, Melissa Joseph, Hugo McCloud, Rodney McMillian, Nengi Omuku, Esteban Ramón Pérez, Shinique Smith, Moffat Takadiwa, and Nari Ward
