Divination

Sekai Machache © Sekai Machache

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Sekai Machache (b. 1989)

Based in Glasgow, Scotland

Instagram: @sekaimachache

www.sekaimachache.com

Artist Profile

Divination, the first solo exhibition of Sekai Machache at Sakhile&Me, combines three of the artist-curator’s major bodies of work that engage the divine, the spiritual, and the multiplicity of experiences coming out of intertwining histories of colonialism and migration. The exhibition will run from 27 October until 3 December 2022.

Divination aptly references the channeling and storytelling made possible through the photographer/artist, the camera lens, the narrators, performers and other co-creators bringing this work to life. We encounter Sekai Machache’s voice and visions in photographic works, her poetry, textile with hand-drawn indigo markings and a multi-lingual performative film. It is with and through the technical, the experiential, the textual, the visual, and the sonic aspects of these varied mediums that divinity moves, manifests and leaves residual traces and opening up a space for seeking, reception, and contemplation.

Divination includes Machache’s tarot card series with the works, "The Hierophant" and "The High Priestess" - tarot being a form of divination, a selection of works from the "A Hint of Blue" series which form part of her ongoing project titled "The Divine Sky" and the artist’s captivating film "Hypnagogia Glossolalia" which is comprised of several spoken word poetry pieces narrated in both Gaelic and Shona (zezuru dialect), with a dance performance by dancer and choreographer Divine Tasinda. To move from the photographic works to the film screening, each viewer enters through a closing demarcated by two ceiling to floor-length site-specific curtains made by cloth with indigo patterns hand-drawn by Machache.

Machache works with a wide range of media including photography, film and performance. Her photographic practice is formulated through digital studio based compositions utilising body paint and muted lighting to create images that appear to emerge from darkness and in the last few years the artist has taken her photographic practice outside to encounter sprawling landscapes.