rhodesiana: interspace index (studio view of work)

Nolan Dennis
rhodesiana: interspace index (studio view of work), 2020
Pencil, ink and collage on paper
Work: 100 x 71 cm

This work is a map for the Rhodesiana series, (2017-ongoing) a series of drawings started with ‘The Last Rhodesian’ set and continuing with a new set of drawings and animation to be exhibited in February 2021. rhodesiana: interspace index collates spatial, material and spiritual histories of the world after Cecil J Rhodes: the reverberations and disfigurement of the world in the name of Rhodes and especially the resistance and refusal of that world. The series title ‘Rhodesiana’ references a nostalgic field of study of Rhodes and his legacy. This series appropriates this title to name a counter-narration of that history and to frame a very personal project of unthinking Rhodes. rhodesiana: interspace index is an abstract record of the places and events entangled in this history. Each grid element of this work refers to a drawing in the series , thus the subtitle ‘interspace index’. Each grid element collages images that reference an event in the Rhodesian project. These images are obscured by opaque sheets of paper each with marked directional arrows, these arrows form a vocabulary for the unspeakable horror and promise of history. The two ink drawings in the grid are animation frames of a single hole splitting into two: an abstract study of decolonial multiplicity. The composition floats on a field of pencil and charcoal drawings which suggest a turbulent organic mass - a drawing language evoking our common internal and nervous bodies.