A ‘golden’ glimpse from Desert X Al-Ula
‘Gold Falls.’ By Serge Attukwei Clottey. 2022 Installation view courtesy of the artist and Desert X Al-Ula. Photo taken by Lance Gerber.
Projects are yellow plastic gallon containers, ubiquitous in Accra, which Clottey incorporates into his sculptural practice in order to raise awareness of the water access crisis and to call local communities into action. The containers, historically used to import cooking oil and frequently repurposed as vessels for water storage, are cut into small tiles and bound with copper wire.
‘Gold Falls,' by Serge Attukwei Clottey. Installation view courtesy of the artist and Desert X Al-Ula 2022. Photo taken by Lance Gerber.
Through cutting, drilling, stitching, and melting materials, Clottey creates sculptural installations that are bold assemblages and that act as a means of inquiry into global consumption, climate change, and the languages of form and abstraction. Clottey’s newly commissioned installation, Gold Falls (2022), expounds on a through line in his practice, using the yellow plastic Kufuor gallons to create an aurulent mirage draped along the desert rock surfaces in the canyon valleys of AlUla.
It appears as a waterfall unfolding and cascading on the rocks, both in mimicry and dissonance. Its golden yellow shining on these cliffs is simultaneously representative of the wealth and the lack of it within this bereft yet naturally resplendent place. Installation view courtesy of the artist and Desert X Al-Ula 2022. Photo taken by Lance Gerber.
