Asaase (2021), David Adjaye’s first large scale autonomous sculpture, was borne from his ongoing reflections on the origins of black architecture and its relationship to the earth. Referencing historic works of West African architecture such as the Tiébélé royal complex in Burkina Faso and the walled city of Agadez in Niger, the sculpture takes the form of a maze of nested earthen walls that climb to a conical vertex. The work aims to speak about the temporal specificity of place through the lens of both the present condition and backward into memory exploring black spaces on the continent in relation to social gathering for families and communities. Asaase meditates on the notions of fragments— fragments of chambers and of buildings constructed from the earth that were the backdrop to the life of black people.
Adjaye Associates
_
