Drawing purity from the pain of artists such as Billie Holiday, Aretha Franklin and Nina Simone, London’s Joviale collects pieces from each musician to create a lush collage of her own – imbuing her creations with cultural threads from the African music she grew up listening to.
“'Ride Away' is an escape into the unknown,” Joviale explains. “It will always be dangerous but also exciting.” Lavished with brassy overtones and rushes of orchestral defiance, the garden in the accompanying visual sets the stage for pleasure and pain. Lost in her lover’s gaze, hands crawl around her throat like the twisted plumes of ivy in the surrounding portraiture.
Surrounded by intoxicating florals and a watercolour backdrop, the two protagonists hold each other’s gaze – their opulent headdresses adorned with pearls and plumes of feathers. Directed by Fiona Burgess, Joviale and her partner exist amongst the natural landscape as they breathe life into the polychromatic backdrop, sweeping the life-size canvas in harmonious hues.
