17 March – 1 May 2022
Bring Me To Heal, Amartey Golding
What does a children’s story tell us about pain and compassion in human nature? Bring Me To Heal is a new exhibition by Amartey Golding combining two short films, photography and a handcrafted garment that sheds light on generational trauma in Britain. Turning to his Anglo-Scottish and Ghanaian ancestry by way of a Rastafarian upbringing, Golding creates dream-like spaces, steeped in historical references that bridge the aspects of his mixed heritage and offer collective rituals of healing.
A centrepiece of the commission is an ornate hand knotted garment made of human hair that has been intricately designed by Golding in collaboration with the Shepperton Wig Company and hair artist Kevin Fortune using a pattern that blends references from Afro hair styles to the body art of ancient Britons.
The garment is brought to life when worn by Amartey’s brother, Solomon Golding. We follow the character through film and photography as he is nurtured into existence by a group of three nomadic storytellers in the English countryside and brought to a point of reckoning with Britain’s violent past within the opulence of the V&A museum. Born from a lengthy process the garment becomes a symbol of care. Using the hair of potentially thousands of people, each strand was hand knotted and tended to by a group of makers in the name of collective healing.
Amartey Golding’s UK tour Bring Me to Heal will launched at the Attenborough Centre for the Creative Arts from 17-27 November 2021. The new large-scale co-commission is led by Forma Arts & Media and combines filmmaking, photography and a handcrafted garment to highlight generational trauma in Britain and offer collective rituals of healing.
Image Credit: Amartey Golding, Bring Me to Heal (2021), Video Still. Image courtesy of the artist and Forma Arts & Media.
