Ivan Forde: Epic Poetry Through Mixed Media and Digital Art

Back in 2013 we featured the work of Guyanese artists Ivan Forde.  5 years later his work is still unique and inspiring to a new generation of African digital artist and collagists.  Since we featured his work Ivan has been working with printmaking, electronic media and sound installation an a variety of projects. On his instagram page Ivan says that he is “Currently executing a performance project illuminating the epic of Gilgamesh as silkscreen and cyanotype prints.”

Ivan Forde (b. 1990) works across printmaking, digital animation, sound performance, and installation. Using a wide variety of photo-based and print-making processes (and more recently music and performance), Ivan Forde retells stories from epic poetry casting himself as every character to reflect on migration, memory, and homeland. His non-linear versions of these time-worn tales open the possibility of new archetypes and alternative endings. By crafting his own unique mythology and inserting himself in historical narratives, he connects the personal to the universal and offers a transformative view of prevailing narratives in the broader culture.