Art Review: “Everything Flows”

A simple sentiment, yet so all encompassing. Walking into the Roca London Gallery was like retreating from the everyday, like entering another world – one in which structure and fluidity walked hand in hand. Astounded by Hadid’s skill, I began to truly appreciate the wondrous potential of art and architecture; of being able to embody feelings in their most abstract form. How was it that a place could resonate as if it were speaking directly to me? And what was it that it was trying to tell me, or more accurately, show me?

We as humans often try and articulate in linguistic terms what can only be experienced or understood through proximity – through being able to see a reflection of oneself in something external; through having a feeling flow through you, rather than observing it from afar. Hadid’s exhibition encapsulated this in its most organic form, being inspired by water and the way in which it moves through structures, “acting as a transformer, moving without interruption through the façade, carving the interior.”

I pondered on why incorporating and emphasising the beauty in the shapes and curves of something as simple and functional as a toilet or a tap, to something as intricate and striking as jewellery and sculptures felt equally profound, as if it were enlightening me on a quality or essence unseen yet present everywhere at once. After reading Hadid’s words, it instantly made sense as to why the entire exhibition felt moving on an almost philosophical level, like an epiphany embodied in visual art. Everything flows, and our example of this will always come from water. As I walked around, constantly confronted with my own reflection in expansive, clear mirrors, I remembered that before we ever created mirrors, we saw our reflections in water – an outward source confirming our own existence. And yet it exists within us. More than half of our body is made up of water – it is innate. And yet the necessity of water forces us to open ourselves up to the outer world, to nature, to images of ourselves in outward sources. We must await patiently for the rains which fall from the sky and quench our thirst with their vibrancy. We are not self-sufficient, nor are we stagnant. We cannot exist in a vacuum. Just like the air we breathe, water is an ever-flowing phenomenon – it is the purest essence of life.

The human body, therefore, is a work of art, just like nature itself – we are the result of intricate design, of shaping which allows water to flow through us, connecting us both to our interiority in its most spiritual sense (for we are able to be moved, just like water), and to the cyclical life source that is Mother Nature: God’s work of art. And so, just as a tap is shaped to allow water to flow through it to cleanse our hands; just as a bath curves to allow our bodies to sit in a sinking state of calm, reflective introspection; just as a shower allows our emotions and thoughts to wash over us in our naked, unfiltered form, and as a toilet flushes away our waste, releasing that which weighs us down – there is an intimate privacy in our connection to water, a cyclical, grounding exchange which cleanses us both internally and externally.

Funnily enough, I recall my friend and I having a passionate discussion about the dystopian nature of porter potties. Hilarious as it was, there was truth in it, for I think we can easily see how, when we focus too much on the functionality of something, we lose the purpose of that function – we disregard and detach from the sensory experience attached to it. As a result, we carry out action with no root intention, we build structures on rotten soil (and we are forced to use the toilet in terrible conditions). We forget the times when we built with our hands, when we had to shape with our fingertips what we envisioned in our minds. Hadid utilised the entirety of the space she was given to remind us of what it means to shape with intention.

We as human beings create vessels through which we can allow the truest essence of who we are to flow through – in creativity, in self-expression, in reflection and subsequent healing. We seek to externalise that which is internal and unlock a means for connection to another life source in the process. We pass on ideas to one another, unknowingly, across space and time – we inspire and are inspired. Our feelings are not supposed to sit and lay heavily within us – they are meant to flow and be passed from body to body. Every single piece in Hadid’s exhibition could be appreciated and admired individually, in isolation – the ceiling and walls alone were enough to stand in awe. And yet, like an organism, each piece worked together, encapsulating Hadid’s message beautifully, and in a way which felt personal.

Naturally, after this experience, I came to reflect on what art truly is -what makes something art? It’s a question to which I’m unsure there is an answer, but for me, as I have come to understand it, art is a reflection. It is something that exists within us long before we find the means of letting it out. Like water, we are vessels for artistic expression through creativity, through searching to find the most authentic expressions of who we are and what we feel. But we are not just water. It simply keeps us alive, flowing through us, just like feeling, emotion and affect flow through us on a daily basis, and though it may shape us, it foes not define us, for art cannot be defined. We do not have to go where the water takes us, pouring out with no direction, with no purpose. We can exercise control. For in finding reflections of our humanity in the abstract, by finding a way of harnessing that which we are not even aware is within us, we come closer to our spirit, no longer confined by the body. Because we know that the body is only an outward structure, a safe haven which grounds us and protects us, connecting us with the world through sensory experience. We should not be confined by our bodies, for we have a means of escaping it, of releasing that which we hold in – through art, we are able to escape ourselves and explore new worlds. Hadid created a world so futuristic, so alien, yet so familiar, exhilarating yet serene. She showed me that we can create our own spaces, we can share parts of ourselves with others, and in the process bring them closer to themselves. It felt fitting, therefore, that when we left, my friend Naomi said she felt “replenished”.

I envisioned a world where architecture was utilised more in this way – where people like Hadid allowed us to see reflections of ourselves in our everyday lives, in our homes, our places of work, in hospitals and places of worship. A world where atmosphere was shaped with intention. This exhibition reminded me that we have the potential to create spaces that allow people to find comfort in their own interiority through outward reflection, finding safety in the spaces of their own mind and releasing them from the worldy obsession with the bodily in the process. Hadid reminded me of what true art can do. True art is an image, a feeling, a thought – it is using the physicality of our world and our own bodies as a means of introspection, of accessing something both within and beyond ourselves; extending our capacity to feel, and adjusting our understanding of what it means to feel.

The beauty of art is that we don’t always have to know what we want to say until we find the right words. It is amazing how easily things flow when you allow them to speak for themselves. Hadid has constructed an entire world which, upon entrance, submerges you in the beauty of what it means to be alive, subverting the norm of modern day construction in order to elevate the art form of architecture to its full capabilities in both its simplicities and extravagance. This was an experience I could not have predicted, for I did not know it was possible until I was engulfed in it.

by Anayimi Okuboyejo