A Measure of The Moon
Category: Sculpture
Year: 2026
Curator: Charlene Prempeh
Location: Acne Paper, Paris, France
For "A Measure of the Moon," Nifemi Marcus-Bello meditates on his acclaimed sculptural series, ‘Material Affirmations: ORÍKÌ Acts I–III’, where cultural memory and material identity were examined through singular materials ubiquitous in Nigeria. Here, Nifemi continues his enquiry into material culture and questions how over-consumption in the global north is dictating material availability and economic viability in the global South.
The moon in this context is an omnipresent instrument for measuring change. Across many African societies, time was historically tracked by observing the movement of the sun, recurring phases of the moon and specific constellations; a celestial rhythm connecting ceremony, agriculture, gathering, storytelling, and everyday life. As measure and prompt, the moon serves as both provocation and balm.
Time as a cyclical proposition demands regeneration and phasing: materials are used, recovered and redistributed; craftsmanship is revived and reframed; scarcity gives way to abundance. Nifemi’s nuanced experiment in form suggests that the material, cultural and ancestral riches of Nigeria can be replenished.
“Objects carry traces of what came before, suggestions of what might come next and an expression of what is happening now, creating a continuous cycle of use, transformation and renewal where time becomes inextricable from material.”
Nifemi Marcus-Bello for Acne Paper / Acne Studios
