On the occasion of Tunji Adeniyi-Jones's concurrent solo exhibitions ‘Astral Reflections’ at Charleston, East Sussex, and ‘That Which Binds Us’ at White Cube Bermondsey, London, this publication is formed in two parts.

At the front-of-book, an in conversation with Dr Jareh Das explores the impact of travel on Adeniyi-Jones’s practice. His studies at Yale School of Art, New Haven, led him to investigate African modernist histories outside the European canon and US-led movements including the Harlem Renaissance, while a residency in Senegal solidified the foundations for his distinctive, sinuous figures. In the second half of the book, an essay by Camille Okhio focuses on the role of repetition and mantra in Adeniyi-Jones’s work, which draws influence from both The Grail Movement and Catholicism. Combining decorative devices from religious texts with anatomical representations in West African sculpture, he creates scintillating figures ‘of duty and practice’. Designed by Office Ben Ganz with Celena Suwei Wang, the publication opens with a spread of images showing sculptures and a drawing by Nigerian master Ben Enwonwu, a key reference point in Adeniyi-Jones’s figural style. Watercolours, etchings and monotypes on paper from the Charleston exhibition are paced throughout the subsequent pages, culminating in illustrations of oil on canvas paintings from the artist’s White Cube exhibition and studio photography by Harry Griffin.

Edited by Honey Luard
Text by Camille Okhio and an in conversation with Jareh Das
Designed by Office Ben Ganz with Celena Suwei Wang
Printed by Pureprint, Sussex
170 × 220 mm, softcover with dust jacket
84 pages, 35 colour and 9 black and white illustrations
ISBN 978-1-910844-52-6
Published by The Charleston Trust and White Cube, 2022

Dr Jareh Das is (MA, PhD) is a researcher, writer and curator who moves between Nigeria and the UK. 

Camille Okhio is an art and design historian and writer living in New York.