Linda Lamignan
those who do not travel never arrive: Carry Your Home
those who do not travel never arrive: Carry Your Home challenges ideas of diaspora, culture and identity, linking the diasporic experience to notions of wandering and transformation: always moving from one place to another, having one's existence between places. How we change the landscape we move through, and how the landscape changes us. As diasporic identities we carry our homes on our backs, like a turtle, in our wandering through time and space.
In this exhibition, comprising a video work and sculptures, Lamignan uses the camera to capture the unique stories and experiences of Elimina Larsen, Lamignan's mother, and three other members of Elimina's African community in Rogaland: Ramatu Sandra Soltvedt, Anthony Adebayo Martins and Esi Lilly Osafo. They present stories of hope, memory, movement and love.
Petroleum wax and aluminium serve as the principal materials for the sculptures in those who do not travel never arrive: Carry Your Home. These materials relate to the industries of both Stavanger and West Africa; an industry that has affected each of the people in the project. An intention has been imbued in each sculptural object. Some of the objects radiate a protective and calming energy, while others act as safe containers for the stories and memories being shared.
Linda Lamignan is a visual and performance artist whose work tells stories of
the experience of moving between different worlds. Through video, music, objects and performance, Lamignan explores notions tied to wandering and diaspora, transformation and love. With an animist approach, they work with materials linked to the industries of West Africa and Scandinavia. By connecting the histories of these materials/goods to bodies with similar experiences, Lamignan seeks to visualise new, alternative states.
Lamignan received their master's degree from the Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts in Copenhagen and their bachelor's from the Academy of Fine Art in Oslo. Lamignan has shown works at Kunsthal Charlottenborg, Verkstad Konsthall, Kunsthall Stavanger and Kunsthal Aarhus.
Lamignan received a production grant from Bildende Kunstneres Hjelpefond for 2020 with the project now on view at Rogaland Kunstsenter.
The exhibition is supported by Bildende Kunstneres Hjelpefond, Kulturrådet, Kunstfond, NBK and Nordic Mobility Fund.
Installation photos by Oddbjørn Erland Aarsland
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