Goodman Gallery presents In Focus: Kapwani Kiwanga, a presentation of select bodies of work by the artist. The presentation opens alongside Kiwanga’s solo exhibition, Trinket, currently on view at the Canada Pavilion in Venice. 

Kapwani Kiwanga’s practice centers around a keen sense for the inherent properties of materials and in turn their ability to communicate multiple layers of meaning.

This presentation hones in on some of these materials namely sisal, silica sand, Atlantic ocean saltwater and historical books, opening up histories of triangular trade, social segregation, colonialism and environmental degradation to her viewers.

Taking up a central part of the presentation is Dune, featuring two glass lenses. Here Kiwanga ponders the multiple forms that sand can take. A plinth filled with Silica sand asks the audience to consider the impact that these small grains have had on the environment in another collective form: as a medium for hydraulic fracturing, better known as fracking, a method of oil and natural gas extraction that began in the US commercially in the 1950s. Two lenses made from Silica sand are positioned in specific orientations in the sand encouraging visitors to consider the way such simple and often-overlooked materials can be employed to various ends.