![Square digital image of a still life containing objects scattered upon a black table with a metallic steel curved front edge. The image has an out-of-focus black background, dappled with soft off white and unsaturated orange blotches. The lighting in the overall image is darker with a slight pink hue. Two sharp knives, one with a yellow handle and the other with a black handle, lie in the foreground of the artwork in front of a white Nike sneaker. Scattered in the foreground and midground are used cigarettes, two large stacks of Australian fifty dollar notes, folded one-hundred dollar notes and single twenty and ten dollar notes. Half a fig, half a papaya and half an orange sit with a full pear and fig, both in front of and behind small scales and a lime green coloured Ryobi drill which is placed on its side. In the background and taking up a third of the artwork is a reflective rounded vase filled with well-lit white, and varieties of pink peonies and dark foliage.]( https://bleedonline.net/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/UTILITY.jpg)
OFFLINE AND LOADING by multidisciplinary artist, Serwah Attafuah, explores the connections between 16th-century Dutch Vanitas still lifes and contemporary Ghanaian Sakawa rituals, creating a provocative dialogue between historical European art and modern African digital spirituality.
By interweaving these disparate cultural and technological references, Attafuah invites viewers to contemplate universal themes of mortality, materialism, and the pursuit of spiritual meaning in the digital age. The work challenges the colonial gaze often applied to African practices while highlighting our enduring preoccupation with death, luxury, and the afterlife across cultures and time.
Through this contemporary memento mori, OFFLINE AND LOADING encourages reflection on our relationship with mortality and materialism in an era of digital interconnectedness, where the boundaries between physical and virtual realities continue to blur. The work confronts the user’s experiences with their mortality and raises questions about how we engage with materialism and spirituality in an increasingly technological mass hallucination.
- OFFLINE AND LOADING is commissioned and produced by Campbelltown Arts Centre as part of BLEED 2024.
BLEED (Biennial Live Event in the Everyday Digital) was conceived by Campbelltown City Council through Campbelltown Arts Centre, and The City of Melbourne through Arts House. BLEED 2024 is produced and presented by Campbelltown Arts Centre, Arts House, and Perth Institute of Contemporary Arts in partnership with Treasure Hill Artist Village.