exhibition | strombeek-bever, be

For his solo exhibition at CC Strombeek, Rindon Johnson will explore the history and implications of the fabled wood type mahogany and its contemporary usage, for instance in furniture. A valued material, mahogany has passed through many hands, yet the islands where it grows bear the scars of its absence, left vulnerable by the loss of these protective trees.

The book Mahogany, The Costs of Luxury in Early America written by Jennifer L. Anderson will be used here as a guideline. She writes: “In the mid-eighteenth century, colonial Americans became enamored with the rich colors and silky surface of mahogany. This exotic wood, imported from the West Indies and Central America, quickly displaced local furniture woods as the height of fashion. But beneath the polished gleam of this furniture lies a darker, hidden story of human and environmental exploitation.”