Geraldine Fenn: Dispatch from the Colonies

Geraldine Fenn won the inaugural AJF Solo Exhibition Award. Her resulting show, Geraldine Fenn: Dispatch from the Colonies, displayed at Galerie Noel Guyomarc’h, explored power dynamics linked to the European colonization of Africa. She drew inspiration from cabinets of curiosities, in reverse: rather than displaying the colonized, she transforms the colonizers into exotic objects. This idea unfolds in jewelry adorned with royal portraits and African trade beads, portraits of aristocrats displaced into a hostile African setting, playing cards depicting miniaturized colonists, hybrid objects blending European and African materials, and collaboration with Zimbabwean beading collective Marigold. Fenn aims for a nuanced reading of colonial history, beyond a simple perpetrator/victim dynamic, contributing in her own way to the reinterpretation of official narratives that still shape our understanding of colonialism.