Ollie George

web print video text research
Ŋgam dù 

web text research
Nggamdu.org is a portal by the spider diviners of Somié, Cameroon, who offer their practice of ŋgam dù divination, a method of arachnomancy practiced with ground-dwelling spiders to reveal truths about its consultee’s past, present and future.

Working with the lead diviner Bollo Pierre ‘Tadios’, artist Tomás Saraceno, and the project’s local collaborators, I produced the web portal to present, offer and archive this historic practice. The need to ensure creative agency and authorship for Bollo and other diviners gave rise to a co-creational, evolving design process since its launch in 2021 with the funds of Berliner Festpiele.

The web project has been the subject of several exhibitions, including Coming Soon at Lafayette Anticipations (FR), Web(s) of Life at Serpentine Galleries (UK) and Particular Matter(s) at The Shed (US), and featured in international press coverage.

↗ nggamdu.org

with Studio Tomás Saraceno