Futuristic Ancestry

Warping Matter and Space-time(s)

A photographic artwork of a semi-transparent biological figure floating against a background of pink stems

Fotografiska New York is proud to premiere rising-star French artist Josèfa Ntjam’s solo U.S. museum show debut. Through a multi-sensory video experience, biomorphic sculptures, and photomontages printed on plexiglass and aluminum, this exhibition explores the artist’s deep interest and research into African mythology, biological processes, science fiction, and the ingrained but outdated ideas about origin, identity and race that rule our world.

A photographic artwork of aquatic foliage and colorful light leaks against the face of a woman — MOLECULAR GENEALOGIES, 2023, photomontage 3D, ADAGP, Paris, 2023 © Josèfa Ntjam, Nicoletti, London, and Galerie Poggi, Paris

A reptilian face appears against a collage of pink and green matter — SIMULACRE #1, 2023, photomontage 3D, ADAGP, Paris, 2023 © Josèfa Ntjam, Nicoletti, London, and Galerie Poggi, Paris

"Through an approach deeply rooted in movement and transformation, Ntjam’s work embodies a fluidity that is both metaphorical and literal in its manifestation, creating a dynamic interplay of hybrid forms and dialogues."

Carine Harmand

Futuristic Ancestry: Warping Matter and Space-time(s) is a kaleidoscopic journey into Afro-diasporic history, race, and revolution, invoking Mother Earth and Ntjam’s own life experiences in a hallucinogenic multi-sensory experience.

Ntjam’s work is multidimensional, exploring themes of Afro-diasporic history and ancestry via biomorphic avatars and beings which appear extraterrestrial. Featured in the exhibition, her 19-minute film Matter Gone Wild is a poetic audiovisual exploration into revolution and systematic oppression through the lens of three distinct characters, each one residing in an psychedelic corner of some otherworldly, unfamiliar multiverse.

A photograph of a dark room with large cushions and "Matter Gone Wild" by Josèfa Ntjam being projected on a screen — "Matter Gone Wild"

ABOUT THE ARTIST

Josèfa Ntjam (b. 1992) is a French artist, performer, and writer whose practice combines sculpture, photomontage, film, and sound. Collecting raw material from the internet, books on natural sciences, and photographic archives, Ntjam uses assemblage – of images, words, sounds, and stories – as a method to deconstructing the grand narratives underlying hegemonic discourses on origin, identity, and race.

Throughout her work, Ntjam blends memory with historical fact and speculative fiction (from Battlestar Galactica to the novels of Octavia E. Butler) to produce new interpretations of radical liberation movements around the world, from the battle against white supremacy led by the Black Panther Party in the U.S., to the fights in Cameroon and Nigeria against colonial rule.

The artist, who earned a degree from the École Nationale Supérieure d’Art, has been featured in exhibitions at the Stedelijk Museum in Amsterdam and the Barbican Art Gallery in London.