The work of Jimmie Durham (1940, Houston – 2021, Berlin) addresses the complex subject of colonial domination by ironically subverting clichés. As is often the case in Durham’s work, Africa and Antinomianism (2010) comprises a motley array of elements, both natural and manufactured, that combine to form a visually arresting and ambiguous piece. The symbolic dimension of the trophy evokes the idea of a brutal assault on a natural and cultural environment. Here, drainpipes, partly covered with fabric and representing a trophy on a wooden shield, appear to conceal the skull of a kudu, one of Africa’s most emblematic antelopes, symbolic of the wild nature of the plains, with long spiral horns that also play an important role as a musical instrument within ritualistic ceremonies. Like the object, the title of the piece contrasts two different realities by associating Africa with a term derived from philosophy and theology: antinomianism, meaning a ‘doctrine hostile to the law’, symbolising a thousand-year-old tradition of abstract thought, disconnected from real life.