Amartey Golding: Bring Me To Heal

Scroll down for 

Amartey Golding in conversation with Thulani Rachia

and 'A Web of Trauma'  a creative text response to Amartey Golding's exhibition by artist and writer Imani Jordan (end of page) .

Bring Me To Heal is a new exhibition by Amartey Golding which includes film, photography, sound and a handcrafted garment that sheds light on generational trauma in Britain. Turning to his Anglo-Scottish and Ghanaian ancestry by way of a Rastafarian upbringing, Golding creates dream-like spaces, steeped in historical reference that bridge the aspects of his mixed heritage and offer collective rituals of healing. 

Moving between film and photography, we follow the central character who is nurtured into existence by a group of three nomadic storytellers in the countryside. Subsequently in a second film the character is brought to a point of reckoning with Britain’s violent past within the opulence of the V&A museum. 

A centrepiece of the commission is an ornate hand knotted garment made of human hair that has been intricately designed by Golding in collaboration with hair artist Kevin Fortune. The garment features a pattern that blends references from Afro hair styles to the body art of ancient Britons. Born from a lengthy process the garment becomes a symbol of care, brought to life when worn by Amartey’s brother, Solomon Golding in the films. Using the hair of potentially thousands of people, each strand was hand knotted and tended to by a group of makers in the name of collective healing. 

Shedding light on the processes behind the work, a fable of “The Horse and the Goose” written by the artist as a narrative context for the wider exhibition addresses the importance of storytelling and its role in creating space for healing. Alongside this, a short documentary on the making of the exhibition is shown outside the gallery space. 

The Bring Me To Heal UK tour is presented by Forma Arts & Media with partners Tramway, the Attenborough Centre for the Creative Arts in Brighton, and 198 Contemporary Arts & Learning in London. 

The exhibition at Tramway was realised with support from the Art Fund and Creative Scotland.

The exhibition tour also includes: 

Attenborough Centre for the Creative Arts, Brighton
17 - 27 November 2021

198 Contemporary Arts & Learning, London
17 March - 1 May 2022

Credits
Amartey Golding’s Bring Me to Heal is a Forma Arts & Media commission in collaboration with Tramway, 198 Contemporary Arts & Learning, Attenborough Centre for the Creative Arts, and the Victoria & Albert Museum. It is further supported by Arts Council England, The Golsoncott Foundation, Henry Moore Foundation and Lighthouse as part of Re-Imagine Europe. 

This exhibition is supported by the Art Fund.

Images (above and below) 
Amartey Golding, Bring Me To Heal, Tramway (2021). Photography - Keith Hunter