Client: Museum of Contemporary Art Detroit in partnership with International Studio & Curatorial Program

Overview

Terra Nullius is the first solo museum show for Detroit-based visual artist, Conrad Egyir. For this debut, Egyir created a new body of work while in residency at the International Studio & Curatorial Program (ISCP) in New York City, during the summer of 2019. The works in this show focus on figurative characters that reside or bestride three geographical spaces–Detroit, New York, and Aburi, Ghana–and how the cultures of each of these locations define citizenship, migration, hybrid spaces, and political and religious revolutions.

Goals

At the core of the exhibition, is finding similarities among the three psycho-social terrains and synthesizing them into a new space “Terra Nullius.” Within this new place, devoid of political and legal constructs, its residents behave as stewards of time, resources, and space.

Additional Information

Egyir often frames his works with symbolic texts and familiar contexts. In both images Egyir inscribes "Running the race set before us". A woman stares plainly from the canvas, the composition and the perforated frame recall the regal austerity of postage stamp portraits. Postage stamps, first introduced to Ghana in 1899 as a colonial project, came to symbolize the country's independence from England. The new republic printed "Ghana Independence 6th of March, 1957" on English stamps which featured the profile of a young Queen Elizabeth II. Today, though independent, the effects of a colonial history remain. For example, English remains the primary language for all official and educational purposes. The books in these portraits, resting atop the crown of the figures, suggest the post-colonial frameworks set before them.