Ilona Anderson, from South Africa, presents Forced Removal, a twin bed with pastel-colored rubber pistols and flower-covered holsters lying here and there. One pillow is singed by a bullet hole. Her subjects are domestic violence — which some see as a side effect of years of violent apartheid repression — and AIDS. The bed sits atop stacked paint cans, a reference to the South African folk belief that it’s a way to keep bad spirits lurking under the bed at bay. The installation begins to evoke a shrine, but the symbols and construction feel underdeveloped. The gallery’s poor feng shui doesn’t help; I’d suggest darker rooms and more spotlights.
The show is rounded out by symbolic paintings and collages by Ethiopian Ezra Wube (the former MassArt student, now living in Brooklyn) that aim to address dislocation and loss of traditions but just feel fussy.
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Museum And Gallery
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