Within the African continent and its diaspora, it is common practice to acknowledge and honor the ancestors when people gather. This gesture, which could take the form of an offering such as breaking and sharing a kola nut, or pouring some liquor on the ground as a libation, oftentimes both, emphasizes an enduring kinship and heritage that transcend geographical boundaries and nation-state identities. This invocation makes known as well as give praise and gratitude as descendants.

In the framework of the 36th Bienal de São Paulo, Leo Asemota, a native of Benin Kingdom in Edo State, Nigeria, and currently living in London, offers a work that draws from this practice of libation. The untitled work, derived from a Kissi penny, consists of pieces cast in a copper-tin alloy, each deliberately conditioned to be unique.

The Kissi penny was once a widely circulated legal tender in the 19th and 20th centuries for the Kissi, Loma, and Bandi peoples living in the border regions of today’s Liberia, Sierra Leone, and Guinea. The penny, which is believed to have a soul, was made of a long twisted iron rod with an ear (nling) at one end, and a foot (kodo) at the other end. After the French and the British devalued it in the late 20th century in their respective African colonies, the penny still retained ceremonial and spiritual value in many of the Indigenous societies.

As described by Asemota, and as it is customary when libating, the essence is to be found in the act of uttering the word(s) accompanying each offering – in this case, a Kissi penny, offered to each living artist participating in the Bienal – rather than solely in the aesthetic and form of the (art)works.