Zohra Opoku
Frieze

On German/ Ghanaian artist Zohra Opoku's I have arisen from my egg … (2020), the face of a screen-printed sepia portrait is replaced with mustard-yellow tree branches, stitched-on hands reach out for the missing face, while an eye, nose, ear and mouth float on the bottom of the canvas. Opoku’s new body of work – now showing at Mariane Ibrahim as part of ‘I Have Arisen … The Myths of Eternal Life, Part One’ – comes after the artist’s cancer diagnosis and shows bodies piecing themselves back together, reclaiming themselves. Egyptian hieroglyphs frequently appear paired with hands, granting them a symbolic quality. The trees come from a series of photos the artist took in Berlin while undergoing radiation therapy; stripped of their leaves, the branches hint towards new life and blossoms.