LAST CHANCE Anthony Akinbola: Get Well Soon

Durags are stretchable fabrics worn over the head to shape and protect the hair; in Akinbola’s practice, they are both culturally loaded objects and a material he can reconfigure. For this solo show, Akinbola assembles durags into compositions that are drawn from the structure of classical floral still-life paintings. Translating this genre into fabric allows the image to form through construction; petals emerge through stitching, density, and layering. The flower is not painted; it is built.

Alongside the floral arrangements, Akinbola works through another motif: bricks. Says the gallery: “The brick pattern … introduces a different register: a wall, a structure, a longing. It gestures toward the search for something that lasts, and toward the idea of home as legacy … The title Get Well Soon operates as both a cue and a condition, an everyday phrase that carries hope and uncertainty at once”.