Koby Martin: Terroir 

June 12 - 14, 2026

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Terroir is a solo exhibition by artist Koby Martin, examining the politics of land, inheritance and memory, through histories of ownership, produce and colonial exchange. The term “terroir” refers to how geographical location, soil, stone and climate, shape the character of wine produced in particular regions. Martin uses this idea to question histories of ownership, cultural identity and colonial extraction within Ghana, drawing parallels between French vineyards and Ghanaian lands, reorganised through colonial economies - territories where value become tied to cultivation, export, labour, branding and control.

Filtered through the aesthetics and logic of the classic video game ‘Street Fighter’ -combat, repetition, character (personalty) selection and survival - the exhibition reimagines colonial histories as staged battles where memory becomes fragmented, cyclical and replayed. At its centre is Martin’s mother, her image becoming a recurring motif through which inheritance, domestic space and generational resilience are explored. Notions of existence, memory, death and rebirth are staged within Martin’s psyche. Ruminating on the loss of his grandmother, Martin draws parallel’s with ‘Street Fighters’ perpetual cycle of loss, life, liminal spaces and process versus end result.

Through painting, sculpture, and screen printing, Martin explores the movement of produce and commodities between Ghana and Europe, referencing local traditions surrounding palm wine and akpeteshie (a locally made wine produced in Ghana) alongside colonial systems of trade. References to the still-life paintings of Paul

Cézanne, particularly his arrangements of fruit and domestic objects, appear throughout the exhibition as Martin reconsiders ideas of value, display and consumption.