MARTIN TOLOKU

The placenta of a born baby is traditionally powerful and connected to our human existence. A culture which is cherished very much in most African communities, especially West Africa (Ghana), that after a child is born it should be buried according to tradition. It is believed as one that secures you a place in society and guides us through our entire journey on earth by reminding you of where you originate, a tracker in life. 

The black body has suffered placement within the dominant white society that they needed to fight racial abuse, freedom and equality after 400 years of slavery on a land which was helped established by their ancestors. Connected to it by birth and labor but denied the freedom to enjoy its fruit. Tracking the roots of their placenta and that of their ancestors through persistent struggle in claiming their sense of belonging in the society. As the same energy which connects their way back home in Africa, a magnetic pulse of attraction between our place of existence and personality in life. 

Using rotten but strong wood and my carving tools to craft a placenta, connecting a newborn baby with the head buried to earth but the leg struggling to reincarnate, revealing a puzzle between life and death and a tool for human survival and self-belonging.