Exhibition Essay by Jenni Lomax for ‘Welcome to Me, Scarborough. To See and Hold My Work’

EXHIBITION ESSAY by Jenni Lomax, March 2022
Throughout history and across cultures, workers have matched words and music to the rhythms, repetition and the physical demands of their work – whether domestic, agricultural, industrial or maritime. Cloth workers in Northern Britain created, complex, repetitive songs that were driven by the beat and pace of their spinning and weaving machines; their voices singing in unison to outdo the loud whirring of the bobbins and the back-and-forth clickety-clack of the looms. In a sea faring town such as Scarborough, the sailors and fishermen who worked the sailing ships had their own work songs that helped the crew to all pull together in heavy seas and high winds. Sea shanties, as they became known, to tell stories of the drama of the ocean; of danger and survival, of tragedy and hope. The timing and phrasing of these nautical ballads have a synchronicity with the rise and fall of the waves as well as beating time to the hauling and pulling, scrubbing and swabbing that were part of the strenuous routine of life on board ship.

Andrew Omoding makes art in the constant company of music and song. His sculptures, installations and wall hangings have been brought into being to the sound of Rhianna, Michael Jackson or a Ugandan band of drummers. His extensive arsenal of working methods includes those of a skilful artisan; weaving, sewing, binding and splicing. In the same way as those cloth workers and seafarers, he works to the rhythm and energy of the music, singing along – often changing the lyrics to ones he has composed to tell the story of the object he is making.

It is no wonder, given Andrew’s love of music and way of working, that on his first visit to Scarborough he was drawn to the busy quayside, a place bustling with industry as well as having the colourful trappings of a seaside resort. It was here by the water’s edge that he learnt about the sea shanties and recognised an affinity with the crafts of the fisherfolk. How they weave lobster pots, mend their nets and re-purpose their ropes and plastic containers is so much akin to the way he himself makes things.

What form a work will take and what technique might be used to make it, is determined by the nature of the materials he has gathered and has brought to hand. When it comes to stuff, Omoding is a master at acquiring it from sources others might ignore. His artist eye sees potential in unlikely things discarded by factories and workshops, found in skips or left abandoned by the roadside. His workspace is a treasure trove, full of colour and texture; here, scraps of wood, metal cables and wire, fabrics and yarns, old furniture and domestic gadgets await transformation. For Andrew, every scrap of fabric, cardboard tubing, packing tape, ribbon or length of timber holds the promise of becoming something more. When he chooses things to be joined together, they become something else entirely. With his improbable materials he forges unlikely allegiances. Instinctively, he pieces together different elements, adding and subtracting as he goes along, until a form emerges that he recognises as having a purpose and identity all of its own.

Once assembled, these hybrid forms become part of a sculptural language that will be used and translated in whatever way he chooses for a particular place or circumstance. Entangled within all Andrew’s intriguing assemblages are tales of his Ugandan homeland and happy childhood, together with stories gathered from his more recent urban, London life and visits to unfamiliar places. He is story teller at heart — a spinner of yarns — who’s narratives have been expanded and embellished by his experience of Scarborough. Learning about sea shanties and Herring Girls, discovering the amusing artifacts of the leisure arcades, seeing the fishing boats with their rigging, marker-buoy’s, pendants and other nautical paraphernalia, are experiences that have been reimagined in the work he has made for Woodend Gallery.

Despite, or perhaps because of being born in a land locked country, Andrew appears to have a natural affinity with the sea and the coastline. The sights and sounds of Scarborough have entered his imagination, alongside all the shapes and images that have been kept stored in his mind since he was born. The history and architectural features of the Gallery – housed in what was the home of the Sitwell’s, have been an inspiration too. In particular, the beautiful oak panelling and fascinating collection of books in the Sitwell Library have fired his imagination. His exhibition here is a conversation with the place.

A massive, fabric collage is threaded with rope and hangs like a sail. It divides into two, like open pages of a giant atlas. Each side has a background of boldly patterned African cloth onto which Andrew has appliquéd panels of handwritten text that tell some of his stories of life by the sea. Elsewhere, objects made from wooden sticks, colourful ropes and synthetic twines are placed on the walls and across corners; activating the rooms in a way that invites exploration. Tall, floor-standing structures bear resemblance to flags that may be marking out territory, indicating allegiance or communicating in code.

Sculptures in the shapes of big fish and little fish dart here and there. Some are formed from scrapped wood, lollipop sticks, gold and silver lame fabric and brightly coloured threads. These are accompanied by others who’s wooden ‘bodies’ have been adorned, armoured or captured by twists of metal tubing and curling wires. “I can swim…I’m happy” sings the little fish, to the backing of a Ugandan beat. “Don’t eat me” it cries. “The big fish are yummy” – “Oh no! Big fish as eaten it.” So go the words of one of Andrew’s songs, a mischievous ode to his piscatorial constructions, recorded as he made the sculptures in his studio. The sound of his rhythmic fusions of sea shanties, pop-songs and contemporary dance music from Uganda, can be heard in the Woodend Gallery, bringing with it all the energy and variations of Andrew’s methods of making, and creating an illusion of movement in time to the beat.

There is nothing static about Andrew’s work, his installations have a nomadic quality and a magical allure, as if a travelling theatre has turned up and pitched camp. This sense
of possible migration is heightened by the provisional nature of his workaday materials and his expedient means of construction; performance plays an important part too. Procession and pageantry is anticipated in many of his assemblages. Fringed and tasselled constructions, hung at head-height on a wall, could quite readily act as a headdress or

a ceremonial canopy, while stitched, cloth hangings might well double as robes or act as banners to be waved. Tubular sculptures with a capacity for sound, lean in wait for an uptake of breath, together with rigid hollow forms that suggest they may be struck in a way that marks time.

Andrew’s performative productions, whether live or on film, are largely improvised and usually involve procession, dancing and song, all of which demand participation. It is hard to resist this call to action when the artworks themselves are so enticingly suffused with rhythm and energy. His work is full of life. Its vibrancy is fuelled by his experience, curiosity and the joy he has in making things. In another of Andrew’s studio recordings he sings about Scarborough: “…I’m happy…In the beach, in the beaches…welcome to see my work…to sing my song”. Andrew Omoding’s world of art is a rich and generous one.

A place where everything is possible and everyone is welcome.

Jenni Lomax Bio
Jenni Lomax is a curator and writer. From 1990 to 2017 she was the Director of Camden Arts Centre, London where she established an influential and forward-thinking programme of international exhibitions, artists, residencies and education projects, all of which have artists and their ideas at the core. She led the organisation through a major building refurbishment scheme which was completed in early 2004. She was awarded the Order of the Polar Star in 2017, Chevalier dans l’ordre des Arts et des Lettres in 2007, and received an OBE for her services to the Visual Arts in 2009.