LOOMER

Noelle Africh

October 13, 2023

One Piece Viewing

One Piece Viewings feature one work selected by the artist for a one-day event open for public viewing hours. This is an exciting format because it allows a lot of flexibility for both us, as curators, and the artist in terms of the work that will be shown. Going against the grain of the typical timeline for exhibits and projects to create a sense of urgency and concentration around a single work.

Noelle africh | loomer | Friday oct. 13, 2023

“The essence of evil is shadowy, mysterious, covert, hidden, and not fully understood. It is aggressively, insidiously undermining, the worm in the bud. Things are not what they seem: the smiling face conceals hatred, the friendly gesture leads to downfall. The same person is both a neighbor and possibly a member of a secret, subversive organization.”  - Alan Macfarlane, The Root of All Evil, in The Anthropology of Evil, David Parkin (ed.)

SHED Projects presents Loomer, an exhibition by Noelle Africh, as the inaugural presentation of the One Piece Viewing series. The exhibition title, Loomer, recognizes an ominous presence. What looms is unclear. The looming perpetrator in question, IT, is the subject of the work on view. IT remains anonymous, indistinct, uncanny, and mutable. ITs presence poses a threat. Where threats are explicit, paranoia is superfluous. In the realm of the implicit, paranoia finds a home. Africh’s attempt to picture IT is born out of a paranoid reaction to an environment and culture that displays violent tendencies towards its most vulnerable. IT outruns parameters of reference, holding power in illegibility. While painting offers fleeting glimpses, IT continues to escape the eye. Africh’s paintings document the search for what to watch and feel for, so that IT may become clearer.