ADINKRA-05
Russell Watson
Adinkra-05 is a convergence of submerged worlds and ancient symbolic systems. Composed from underwater photographs taken during free-diving expeditions and layered with digitally rendered portraiture, the image positions a humanoid presence within swirling constellations of marine organisms, particulate matter and luminous geometries. Across the figure’s skin, photographs of living coral are meticulously overlaid, so that the body appears encrusted, coated and grown over by reef structures – as if human flesh and marine habitat were momentarily indistinguishable. The composition recalls the devotional symmetry of Tibetan thangka paintings, yet its cosmology is distinctly oceanic and Afro-diasporic, animated by breath, suspension and spirit.
The title refers to Adinkra – visual symbols originating among the Akan peoples of West Africa, each carrying philosophical concepts related to community, resilience, memory and continuity. Here, ancestral sign systems are reimagined through code and projection, transforming symbolic inheritance into a moving, immersive environment. The work stages an encounter between deep time and digital time, asking how inherited knowledge might circulate through contemporary image-making and expanded states of perception.