Ranti Bam's work with clay is an intimate form of personal and social exploration.
2023 Biennial Year Find out more
Having been raised across two continents, clay has become a way for her to give cohesive form to her complexities and fully inhabit the material and spiritual culture of both worlds.
Harnessing the extraordinary narrative and curative capacities of the material, Bam pushes clay to its limits to deliberately engage with the concepts of fragility and vulnerability.
She has come to observe her works function publicly as hearths around which an audience gathers in contemplation, meditation and discourse. The multiple dyads of the symbolic vessel continue to be of significance. Through these Bam explores the literal and the metaphorical; inside and outside, abstraction and figuration, light and dark, spirit and form.
The clay body, the vessel, vulnerability and fragility all engage with the semiotic aspects of the feminine and are important aspects of her work.
Liverpool Biennial 2023
'Ifas' (2023)
Through an intimate process of creation – which involves her physically embracing the clay as it takes form – Ranti Bam explores themes around fragility and vulnerability, intimacy and care, symbolising aspects of the feminine.
Bam considers clay as an immediate connecting point with our natural surroundings and, through this work, proposes a necessary and urgent bond between humans and their natural habitat. The title ‘Ifa’ references the Yoruba word ‘I – fàá’ which means “to pull close”, as well as ‘Ifá’, the Yoruba system of divination.
Created especially for Our Lady and St Nicholas Church Gardens – the burial location of Liverpool’s first recorded Black resident and former slave, Abell (d.1717) – the Ifas offer a new meeting point for visitors
Through an intimate process of creation – which involves her physically embracing the clay as it takes form – Ranti Bam explores themes around fragility and vulnerability, intimacy and care, symbolising aspects of the feminine. Bam considers clay as an immediate connecting point with our natural surroundings and, through this work, proposes a necessary and urgent bond between humans and their natural habitat. The title ‘Ifa’ references the Yoruba word ‘I – fàá’ which means “to pull close”, as well as ‘Ifá’, the Yoruba system of divination. Created especially for Our Lady and St Nicholas Church Gardens – the burial location of Liverpool’s first recorded Black resident and former slave, Abell (d.1717) – the Ifas offer a new meeting point for visitors to gather in mediation, contemplation, and discourse. These stools, known as ‘akpoti’, are integral to indigenous life and are used for rest, care, communication, and communal gatherings. Together, they seek to encourage rest, soothing and love. They act as an altar at which to honour memory, and one at which to thank our ancestors – a ritual commonly practiced in many African and global religions. These sculptures serve as avatars for the body, vessels with exteriors that intentionally mimic the folds and bends of skin. And like our skin, they are imperfect – the Ifas pucker and crack, fold and fault with dramatic spontaneity as a result of their unpredictable shaping process. Surrendering to the artist’s embrace, these collapsing vessels transform into tangible representation of spirit taking form. By encouraging this act of tenderness, the sculptures aspire to facilitate new growth and healing. Visitors were invited to gently engage with these works, whilst being mindful of their delicate nature. Commissioned by Liverpool Biennial, with support from Liverpool BID Company, the Henry Moore Foundation and Fluxus Art Projects.
'Ifas' (2023)
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Ranti Bam, Ifas, 2023. Installation view at St Nicholas Church Gardens, Liverpool Biennial 2023. Photography by Rob Battersby. Courtesy Liverpool Biennial
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Ranti Bam, Ifas, 2023. Installation view at St Nicholas Church Gardens, Liverpool Biennial 2023. Photography by Rob Battersby. Courtesy Liverpool Biennial
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Ranti Bam, Ifas, 2023. Installation view at St Nicholas Church Gardens, Liverpool Biennial 2023. Photography by Mark McNulty. Courtesy Liverpool Biennial.
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Ranti Bam, Ifas, 2023. Installation view at St Nicholas Church Gardens, Liverpool Biennial 2023. Photography by Rob Battersby. Courtesy Liverpool Biennial
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Ranti Bam, Ifas, 2023. Installation view at St Nicholas Church Gardens, Liverpool Biennial 2023. Photography by Rob Battersby. Courtesy Liverpool Biennial
