Zak

Zak is a creative alter ego of contemporary artist Ayobola Kekere-Ekun (b. 1993). She was born and raised in Lagos, Nigeria, and currently lives in South Africa. Her B.A. and M.A. in Visual Arts were received from the Department of Creative Arts, University of Lagos, where she majored in Graphic Design. She is currently pursuing a PhD in Art and Design at the University of Johannesburg, South Africa.

Zak’s practice examines the intelligence of material forms, specifically how matter can register motion, hold memory, and generate structure. Working with fabric as both medium and collaborator, she creates sculptural paintings that investigate the tension between control, release, repetition and variation. Each work begins as a pliable surface, then evolves through folding, expansion and compression into a dense topography.

Zak’s depersonalisation is an attempt to reinforce an emphasis on material over maker. Sidelining personal narrative redirects attention toward how the work itself articulates the slow accumulation of gesture, repetition and time embedded in each piece.

Artist Statement:

"My work explores how material can be an avenue to think, remember and record. Using folded swaths of fabric, I create sculptural paintings that transform surface into structure and give tangible form to gesture. The fold is the core of my preferred visual language. Each piece is a product of repetitive tension and release. I view the folds in my work as inscriptions of the decision making that guides my creative practice. Each ridge marks an ongoing negotiation with gravity and my attempts to resist it. Through this process, the sculpted fabrics come to literally and figuratively embody the idea of motion.In my work, I treat light and colour as both sculptural elements and co-creators. Both help activate depth and movement in the pieces I create. As light changes so does the interplay between colour, shadow and folds. To my mind, the piece is a “closed environment” where the fabric is a terrain of sorts, while colour and light function as weather and atmosphere. In this interplay, perception becomes a part of each piece, changing how the work is seen and experienced depending on where and when the viewer stands."