Art historian, curator and writer Alayo Akinkugbe is behind the popular Instagram page A Black History of Art, which highlights overlooked Black artists, sitters, curators and thinkers, past and present. In her column for AnOthermag.com titled Black Gazes, Akinkugbe examines a spectrum of Black perspectives from across artistic disciplines and throughout art history, asking: how do Black artists see and respond to the world around them?
The Sir John Soane’s Museum in London is a treasure trove for architecture enthusiasts, with a collection of over 40,000 objects preserved and displayed as they were when the 19th-century architect and collector, John Soane, passed away.
Lina Iris Viktor is a Liberian-British artist based in southern Italy, widely known for her paintings, sculptures and installations, which are often characterised by emotive palettes of black, Majorelle blue or gold. Having been trained initially in theatre and film, Viktor came to visual art serendipitously. Integral to her practice is the process of continuously challenging herself and pushing the boundaries of her creativity.
In a new exhibition, Mythic Time / Tens of Thousands of Rememberings at the Sir John Soane’s Museum, Viktor’s works are brought into dialogue with Soane’s collection. Dispersed throughout the historic space are Viktor’s golden thrones, arc-shaped paintings made with raffia, silk and bronze, and sculptures that combine abstract forms with elements of the human body. Viktor’s work introduces a non-western aesthetic to the classical, eurocentric space, drawing on the art and architecture of sub-Saharan African cultures.
Connections between her and Soane may initially seem “unexpected”, as Viktor herself describes it, but in the following conversation, their similarities become clear: a shared fascination with mythology and architectural history, a love of Pompeii, which is near Viktor’s home and a desire to suspend time.
Alayo Akinkugbe: Where does the title of your commission, Mythic Time / Tens of Thousands of Rememberings, originate?
Lina Iris Viktor: When you enter [the Sir John Soane’s Museum], you’re not entering a 21st-century London museum. You’re entering into a timeless space. This [house] has been preserved just as he [John Soane] left it. It feels like a cabinet of curiosities that really holds the sense of the lateral nature of time. It feels mythological in here; there’s a sense of myth even in the way that he displays his collection.
These are the same kinds of themes that are running through my work consistently. The “Tens of Thousands of Rememberings” is because, to his credit or not, Soane collects mostly European-based classical artworks. And obviously, the stories I’m telling are not highly Eurocentric. There’s a particular historical canon that’s present in his collection and I’m adding a whole other kind of conversation that people have far less knowledge about.
“I don’t think there’s any need to be confrontational, because he [John Soane] is not from our time. I think, even for his time, he was very worldly and wanted to have parts of the world [in his home]” – Lina Iris Viktor
AA: Your practice is very diverse, with painting, performance, sculpture and installation. How did you begin your art practice, and were you attracted to any particular medium?
LIV: I feel like it was a bit of Kismet because I never sought out to be a visual artist. I was trained in theatre and film; those are the things that I wanted to pursue when I was younger. And then I was basically given an opportunity; around 11 years ago, a curator came to me who had just opened a gallery in the Lower East Side [of Manhattan] and she said “make a painting”. It felt like a challenge.
That’s why I approach my practice [in this way], working across so many mediums, because it’s challenging. I want to always be exploring and pushing the boundaries of what I think I can do. Regardless of what form the work takes [it must be] visually arresting and provocative. I want [my work to be] a little bit of an overwhelming experience that remains in your mind’s eye afterwards.
AA: How do you select and work with the diverse materials in your art, such as bronze, ceramic, wood and silk?
LIV: When I started working with gold it was an intuitive thing. But I’m also interested in our joint history as humans with gold and bronze; these are materials that we’ve always used. West Africa has a huge history of bronze and gold, silk was also a huge commodity. I’m drawn to things that we already have imbued in our psyche because we’ve had a long history with them and we’ve sought after them for long periods of time.
AA: How did Soane’s collection influence the work in the exhibition?
LIV: I was very aware that I was working in an architect’s building. I love architecture [and] what it evokes in me, when I’m in a space that creates a certain atmosphere. I want to create that feeling of being enveloped as much as I can.
I was inspired by the sarcophagus and I wanted to be in conversation with [it]. So I created a sculpture which is based on the pyramids that you find in the mosques of Sahel and eastern Africa. It is an architectural device imbued into the sculpture to parallel the very Eurocentric architecture of [the museum]. I just wanted to have a counter conversation, but also revel in and herald what [Soane] also achieved.
AA: Putting your work in dialogue with all these objects creates a kind of tension, but it doesn’t seem confrontational.
LIV: I don’t think there’s any need to be confrontational, because he’s not from our time. I think, even for his time, he was very worldly and wanted to have parts of the world [in his home], so he got things from where he could.
I live in south Italy now, very close to Pompeii, and he was obsessed with that region as well. He actually broke into Pompeii, and sketched it by moonlight. I can’t say he wasn’t an inquisitive or voracious person. What still remains [of his home] today is an extension of that. [This exhibition] extends the conversation into realms which he didn’t have an appreciation for or didn’t know about.
AA: What excited you most about making work for a space like the Sir John Soane’s Museum, where the environment is already very rich and historic?
LIV: People will say it is an unexpected thing for me to do a show here, but these are the types of opportunities which, for me, are the most exciting. In a run-of-the-mill museum, you can do something really encapsulating. But this space was already pre-made that way. So it was just like, now make your mark within a space that people already come to because they’re obsessed with what is already here. I was very honoured by the idea of doing that, and I’d love to pursue more things like this.
Mythic Time / Tens of Thousands of Rememberings by Lina Iris Viktor is on show at the Sir John Soane’s Museum in London until 19 January 2025.
