exhibitionSandra PoulsonEconomy of the Dust13.05—30.06.202256 Conduit Street

13.05—30.06.2022 Wednesday—Saturday
11:00am—6:00pm56 Conduit Street

Developed during her residency at V.O Curations, Sandra Poulson presents a series of new works, which draw from the artist’s personal experience of growing up in Luanda, Angola. For this exhibition, presented across two gallery spaces, the artist took the ever-present dust in the city, central to its geographic location, to reflect on Luanda’s economic, social and cultural landscape. The works are made in fabric, a material seminal in constructing the way our bodies navigate the world, with each element pattern cut and handsewn.

In Luanda, the dust is a stable and reliable resource, while at the same time many jobs and daily activities are focused on the effort to erase any traces of it. Referencing AbdouMaliq Simone in thinking of the dust as an accidental gift for the city, Poulson uses this narrative to think about how something seemingly unwanted is an essential part that shapes the local society. Dust, or more the act of removal of it, is here a source of income, a commodity, a border, and a signifier of economic and social status. It dictates the choreography of urban life through the endless looped activities associated with the impossible task of erasing it.

Structured around moments of meeting and intersecting, Economy of the Dust references the elementary architectural language of Luanda – objects, environments and situations that form the city. Juxtaposing elements of opposite qualities and characteristics, the works share stories of restriction, access, friction and hope.

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Poulson graduated from BA Fashion Print at Central Saint Martins (2020).

Solo presentations and commissions include the upcoming ‘Stranieri Ovunque – Foreigners Everywhere’, 60th International Art Exhibition, Venice Biennale, Venice (2024); ‘Dancing Before the Moon’, British Pavilion, Venice Biennale of Architecture, Venice (2023); ‘Dust as an Accidental Gift’, Sharjah Architecture Triennial, Sharjah (2023); ‘Economy of the Dust’, V.O Curations, London (2022); ‘If the Equator Shifts 90º, Does It Go from a Border to a Highway, or maybe to a Footpath?’, Acne Studios, Stockholm (2022); ‘Hope as a Praxis’, JAHMEK Art at ARCO Madrid, Madrid (2021).

Her work has featured in group exhibitions at Hannah Barry Gallery, London (2023); Bold Tendencies, London (2022); ’Before Anyone Else’, Boy.Brother.Friend exhibition in collaboration with Burberry, London (2021); Lagos Biennial (2019), Abuja Art Week (2020), Art Joburg (2020), Firstsite, Colchester (2021), SALTS X Boda Boda Lounge, Basel (2021); Lethaby Gallery (2021, 2018), Nunnery Gallery (2019), Copeland Gallery (2018).

Poulson has had screenings at the Guggenheim, New York (2021), Salts Basel (2021) and Boda Boda Lounge (2020). She was awarded the Mullen Loewe Nova Award (2020), Your Nova Award (2020), the Central Saint Martins Dean's Award (2020), and was selected for Bloomberg New Contemporaries (2021) and the BNC Digital Fellowship (2021).

Poulson’s work has been featured in Frieze Magazine, New Currency Magazine, Vogue US, Vogue Itália, Vogue Brasil, I-D, The Face, FAD Magazine, Creative Brief, Where’s the frame?, 10 Magazine, Creative Review, Artnet News, Jornal de Angola, AnOther Magazine; Numéro Netherlands among others.

artistSandra Poulson

exhibitionSandra PoulsonEconomy of the Dust13.05—30.06.202256 Conduit Street

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