Cornucopia – of abundance and giving

Cornucopia, or the Horn of Plenty, is about continuous plenitude. One of the best-known stories about cornucopia involves the birth of the god Zeus who was nurtured by a goat goddess who unconditionally nursed him with her milk. One day, by accident, one of her horns broke. The sudden mishap gave rise to something transformative – the horn started to provide an uninterrupted flow of fruits, vegetables and even milk, the supply of which was enough to provide nourishment not only to the gods’ Cretan counterparts but to the rest of the world.

Now and then, it takes a disruption, in whatever form, to prompt a change in regular systems. Delia Prvački’s work Cornucopia—of abundance and giving was set aside last year in 2020 for an exhibition, against the backdrop of unrest caused by the global pandemic. The result of five ongoing decades of making, the work has existed in their various fragments since the 1970s; the horn motif, amassed here, reveals itself here again in about 30 titled works. Viewed today, the work asks for viewers to steal a glimpse of hope in the perennial surplus of nature’s perpetual giving. Expanding from a singular horn motif into manifold incarnations, it is a work that is ultimately grounded in the belief in goodness and possibilities.

Curated by Tamares Goh