Trust Your Guts, 2020
Clay
18 x 18 x 16 in.
45.7 x 45.7 x 40.6 cm
While many of Michael Dela Dika’s sculptures explore the contemporary shifts in African culture encountered in daily life, Trust Your Guts considers the effects of these shifts on mindsets and aspirations. As societies become increasingly globalized through migration, travel, and the internet, culture and heritage adapt to accommodate new worldviews. Trust Your Guts implies the importance of using discernment and intuition to ensure that these adaptations do not erase traditions. Dika’s artistry shines through here in displaying the intricacy of managing not only the tensions and dualities of these adjustments, but also their progress and celebrations through fragments that wind and weave upwards together.