Object Action
2018 London College of Communication, London, UK

‘Object Action’ was commissioned by the London College of Communication for ‘Elephant Atlas’, an exhibition that featured 17 artists and writers responses to material from the Cumin Museum collection. The original collection, started by Richard and Henry Cuming in the 19th century, was motivated by an attempt to map, survey and capture the world through the acquisition of artefacts.

Using the visual language of the displaying and selling objects that is usually seen on shopping channels, Offeh developed a two-screen video work that sees a performer presenting a series of ceramic objects from the Cumin collection. Offeh was particularly interested in how, as a colonial subject himself (Offeh was born in Ghana, which until 1957 was the Gold Coast, a British colony) he might animate these objects which are also remnants of colonial history. The videos are meant to be a playful and camp attempt to explore the value and impact of these artefacts, re-animating them and placing their histories and narratives within a contemporary context.