How to Dream from the Deep End
Modupeola Fadugba: Dreams from the Deep End, Exhibition catalogue, Gallery 1957, Accra, Ghana: 2018
It’s summer in Harlem and the air is heavy with dreamy languor. The heat summons universal fantasies of how best to cool off: breezes by a bustling pier; ice cream that swiftly melts down your hand; plunging into public swimming pools – the rites of summer...
Modupeola Fadugba: Dreams from the Deep End presents an immersive installation, evoking the pool as a nostalgic yet contested space where communities gather to play, learn, rest, and resist. Yet within this watery oasis there also lurks more turbulent experiences of risk, exclusion, and the looming chance of drowning. Nonetheless, in the deep end, resilience surfaces and togetherness triumphs.
Togo-born, Nigerian artist Modupeola Fadugba’s multi-media practice encompasses painting, drawing, and socially engaged installation, which address ideas of identity, social justice, and game theory in order to navigate cultural hierarchies. Furthermore, as an avid and lifelong swimmer, Modupeola has a profound personal affinity for the pool and its capacity to foster health, creativity, and confidence. It thus remains a potent recurring motif throughout her diverse bodies of work.
