Exploring and celebrating human identity with Origins

Origins will explore the effects of globalisation through the prism of indigenous cultures and aims to question whether the forces of globalisation have eroded our sense of identity and isolated us from nature and the traditions that make us unique. It also asks viewers to consider the lessons the ‘developed world’ can learn from indigenous populations, such as how to address modern problems that are, for the most part, a result of modern lifestyles.

Heist founder, Mashael Al-Rushaid, said of the exhibition: “We have found ourselves living on a planet whose citizens are slowly forming uniform pan-global identities, in which people are increasingly beginning to sound alike, act alike and believe in the same things. Despite the great contributions that the march towards modernity has made towards our civilisations, it has started to strip us of what makes us fundamentally unique, what makes us human.”

The Origins exhibition underlines the fact that these people, untouched by globalisation, have maintained a sense of uniqueness. Al-Rushaid explains that: “The cultures we celebrate in this exhibition have their own sense of fashion, unaffected by anything except their own environment, personal self-expression and their sense of morality - defined through their instincts and the families around them.”

Origins will also feature sculptures from Patrick Colhoun’s Triptych of Cohorts, which will be displayed alongside a life-sized marble sculpture entitled ‘Sacrifice’ by Egyptian sculptor Khaled Zaki.

In the Heist tradition of transforming the space to create an immersive aesthetic environment for the artwork, Heist will be working with artists from a Lagos-based museum to transform the gallery in the style of a traditional Yoruba home, an ethnic group native to South-West Nigeria. The exhibition will also include handmade artefacts from local artisans in Africa and the Middle East.

Heist’s Origins exhibition will feature pieces from internationally renowned photographers including Xavier Guardans, Massimo Listri, Mario Marino, Steve McCurry, Jean Claude Moschetti, Jimmy Nelson, Rankin and Claire Rosen. Starts 5 March 2015. More details: www.heist-online.com.