The artists involved all share an interest in performance; we’re keen on exploring different notions of live-ness and real-time experiences. My installation for GLOSS combines different materials: at the moment I’m still working on the pieces, so things may change slightly from now. I’ll be using bright colours in combination with raw materials.

You’re keen on sculpture, performance and pop art. Name some heroes of yours; your key points of reference…

More than being interested in pop art, which I am, I’m fascinated with pop culture. Funnily enough, my biggest points of reference is the work of two anthropologists; Michael Taussig and Daniel Miller. Taussig explores how we assimilate culture and Miller the way we relate to objects. I look at music, design and fashion as much as I do art. Influences come from various places, from the work of women artists in the 60s and 70s, such as Martha Rosler, Yvonne Rainer and Carolee Schneemann, to people like Marcus Coates and Spartacus Chetwynd. David Bowie, David Byrne, and artists like Björk and Fever Ray are heroes of mine, too.

Tell us a little about your professional background.

I’m an Italian-Peruvian living in London. I studied fine art at Goldsmiths since I wanted to focus solely on making art rather than writing about it. I met the other three GLOSS artists there. Jo and I had always shared ideas regarding performance and a joy for making and using textiles, so I guess she thought about me when she began curating the event.

How will you use the Grey Area space?

I see it as a space that doesn’t carry the baggage of a typical white cube gallery, even though it boasts typical white walls and a gray floor. It’s a slightly paradoxical space, perhaps a little uncomfortable with low ceilings, too. I’ve been thinking about it and the way in which I install the work will certainly look to exploit its nuances.

Name if you can your top three exhibitions of 2011.

There have been a lot of inspiring exhibitions this year, so I wouldn’t do a ranking. Because of my own interests, I loved Phyllida Barlow’s recent show at Hauser & Wirth, London – the way she used the space and completely filled it with sculptures created this strong sense of physicality and produced such a rich experience on the viewer. I’m also really happy that the Serpentine Gallery is showing Lygia Pape’s work, I just wish the show was bigger and you could see more. I must also say I thought Haroon Mirza’s installation at the Illuminations Exhibition at the Venice Biennale this year was excellent, too.

Daniella Valz Gen
Jo Harrison
Kate Mahony
Luis Ignacio Rodriguez

GLOSS takes place from 16th – 18th December at Grey Area.
Words: Jack mills

The post Altered States: Daniella Valz Gen × GLOSS appeared first on Wonderland.

What professional skills did you absorb from your father, who trained you?

I think I adopted quite a traditional method of working. Like my father, I prefer to shoot with medium format in an outdoor studio. I’m always thinking about the essential components of portrait photography: light, subject, framing. But I’ve since developed my own style, which I like to think speaks to a contemporary audience.

Was it intimidating starting your career in his shadow?

I’m lucky, really – my father was world-renowned and, as a youngster, it got me off to a good start. I used to sit up at night with him while he printed and developed film. To me, the whole process was fascinating.

Photographers in Benin had developed their skills whilst fighting in World War Two, many setting up their own studios when they returned to west Africa. Artists of this period were working outside of urban centres; travelling to far-flung villages to shoot portraits of Juju men, Vodou Priests, tribal chiefs and the elderly. What’s interesting about photography in Benin at that time is the role it played not just in life but in the afterlife. It was a commonly-held belief that a person’s soul lives on, trapped within a photograph.

I feel that my portraits are an extension of that – they capture both the individual personalities and quirks of the Egungun while marking out their power and elusiveness as liminal visitors from the world of the dead.

How did you first learn about the tribe?

Egungun masqueraders are part of my local culture. They are found in the Republic of Benin and in the Yoruba kingdoms of south west Nigeria. For me, the Egungun play a fundamental role in upholding the ethical values of the community.

With the rise of Pentecostal churches in the 1990s across western Africa, a new challenge to Egungun masquerade emerged, as these churches sought to demonise indigenous religions (and their pantheons of deities) and, as such, vehemently reject them. Egungun responded in establishing a counter-narrative of localised Yoruba memories, personalised histories and ritual public performances. My series seeks to explore these dynamic tensions.

My previous projects have also been focused on portrait photography. I exhibited a body of work entitled ‘From Dahomey to Benin’ at Jack Bell last year. This work was particularly focused on locally-printed, Dutch-imported textiles worn by the inhabitants of Porto Novo – Benin’s capital.

How long did you stay with the Egungun, as a means of understanding their day-to-day lives? Were they cautious of you at first, or accommodating?

When looking into a certain culture or community, I generally stay for the duration of a festival or an event, which can last as long as a week. It is always difficult to make yourself an invisible part of a ceremony, but as I said, it is a part of my culture and I feel close to the Egungun performers.

Was it problematic transporting the outdoor studio to and around the village?

Once I’m set up, I tend to stay put for a whole day at a time.

Any projects in the pipeline?

Yes – I’ll be working on a new series later this year, focusing on masks.

Leonce Raphael Agbodjelou’s exhibition runs until December 17th at the Jack Bell Gallery, 13 Mason’s Yard, London SW1Y 6BU
Words: Jack Mills

The post Altered States: the mystical Egungun tribe appeared first on Wonderland.