Faisal Abdu'Allah
Duppy Conqueror II, 2017
Jacquard tapestry
117 x 53 in.
Edition of 8

In his new triptych of tapestries, Jamaican-born, London-raised artist Faisal Abdu’Allah responds to having spent the last several years living in the United States. These tapestries mark the first appearance of a masked alter-ego character known as the “Duppy Conqueror,” after the Bob Marley song of the same name. In Jamaican tradition, a “duppy” is an evil ghost or spirit; as a boy in London, Abdu’Allah also heard the word used as slang, where to be “duppied” meant to be duped or hoodwinked. In the echo chamber of spin and “fake news” accusations surrounding the contemporary American political scene, Abdu’Allah’s alter-ego emerges as a Socratic gadfly: an outsider determined to rattle the status quo, question assumptions, and to conquer the ghosts of ignorance and deception that continue to haunt our world. -Nick Stone

Read an interview with Faisal Abdu’Allah about the Duppy Conqueror series on Magnolia’s blog.