A.C.Q. I 2017

Senga Nengudi has created “A.C.Q. I,” an assemblage of found objects, each carrying the weight of its past. The industrial materials, such as metal grids and rubber, evoke a sense of urban decay, a theme echoed in many pieces after the Industrial Revolution. The linear arrangement of objects across the walls and floor reminds us of altarpieces, but instead of religious icons, we are presented with remnants of daily life. The horizontal lines, weighted and drooping, speak to the burdens and resilience of the human form, not dissimilar to images of the suffering Christ in late medieval art. Consider how the sagging forms might evoke the emotional burdens and elasticity of the female body, stretched yet unbroken, as seen in ancient fertility figures. These are not mere objects but vessels of collective memory, resonating with the primal scream of human experience, a testament to endurance and transformation across time.