Ikroti
Hlobo, whose grew up under Apartheid in South Africa, emerged in the 2000s as a dynamic installation artist who enacted compelling, ritualistic performances within environments he constructed out of textiles, ribbons, and other materials. His best sculptures, such as this example, combine the artist's interests in mutability, mythology, and ritual with natural materials and craft. They also hold in tension supposedly masculine (leather, wood, metal) and feminine (satin ribbons) materials and the ways in which they might disrupt concepts of gender a rigid, binary system.
In Ikroti (which roughly translates to "hero" from Hlobo’s native Xhosa), Hlobo added handsewn leather tentacle-like forms and a stretched-leather horn to a gnarled, found tree trunk. The work’s form references a number of storylines for the artist: the long migration of eels from their shoreline habitats to spawning beds in the deep ocean, for example, or the displacement of large populations of people throughout centuries of African history.
In Ikroti (which roughly translates to "hero" from Hlobo’s native Xhosa), Hlobo added handsewn leather tentacle-like forms and a stretched-leather horn to a gnarled, found tree trunk. The work’s form references a number of storylines for the artist: the long migration of eels from their shoreline habitats to spawning beds in the deep ocean, for example, or the displacement of large populations of people throughout centuries of African history.
Artwork Details
- Title: Ikroti
- Artist: Nicholas Hlobo (South African, born Cape Town, 1975)
- Date: 2016
- Medium: Wood, leather, ribbon and iron
- Dimensions: 39 1/2 in. × 15 ft. 4 in. × 96 in., 166 lb. (100.3 × 467.4 × 243.8 cm, 75297.106g)
- Classifications: Sculpture, Textiles
- Credit Line: Purchase, Lila Acheson Wallace Gift, 2018
- Object Number: 2018.758
- Curatorial Department: Modern and Contemporary Art
More Artwork
A slider containing 5 items.
Press the down key to skip to the last item.
Press the down key to skip to the last item.
William Kentridge
2012
Zizipho Poswa
2020
Atang Tshikare
2021
Atang Tshikare
2021
Claudette Schreuders
2010
Research Resources
The Met provides unparalleled resources for research and welcomes an international community of students and scholars. The Met's Open Access API is where creators and researchers can connect to the The Met collection. Open Access data and public domain images are available for unrestricted commercial and noncommercial use without permission or fee.
To request images under copyright and other restrictions, please use this Image Request form.
Feedback
We continue to research and examine historical and cultural context for objects in The Met collection. If you have comments or questions about this object record, please complete and submit this form. The Museum looks forward to receiving your comments.