Summary
- All 12 young artists have been given a free pass to explore new terrain without the pressure of perfecting a finished product.
- Their materials range from plastics, papers and assorted textiles and threads to violin cases, Kaunda suits and video footage.
- New Threads is a show to be studied, not perused casually.
Circle Art Gallery is breaking new ground with its current exhibition which opened last Wednesday and runs through February 24.
With
a view to ‘investigating’ the process of creative expression as well as
the materials involved in such an endeavour, all 12 young artists have
been given a free pass to explore new terrain without the pressure of
perfecting a finished product.
It’s that sense of
possibility and freedom that permeates the ‘New Threads’ show. At the
same time, it also feels like risky business inviting artists to pay
more attention to the process of creation than to the final outcome. The
same could be said in the case of miscellaneous materials used by the
twelve.
Their materials range from plastics, papers
and assorted textiles and threads to violin cases, Kaunda suits and
video footage. But what matters is the way each of the artists—all of
whom except for Tahir Karmali, are women —work with the materials of
their choice.
‘New Threads: investigating process and material” is fanciful
and fun. It’s filled with delightful discoveries, especially related to
new talents emerging on the local art scene.
By happenstance, a number of them are currently out of the country.
For
instance, Maral Bolouri is in Paris, Souad Abdel Rassoul in Cairo,
Wambui Collymore’s in London, Tahir Karmali’s in New York, Asteria
Malinzi’s in Dar es Salaam and Wanja Kimani in Cambridgeshire. But in a
way, that only adds to the show’s richness since their works are
wide-ranging in originality and innovative styles.
Plus
the blend of the solid (Tamayo’s concrete and bronze footballs) and the
fluid (Waruguru’s plastic ‘waterfall’) make for a delicious mix of
feminist art.
The processes themselves are diverse.
Wanja Kimani and Jackie Karuti both work in storytelling video while
Soaud Abdel Rassoul, Syowia Kyambi and Wambui Collymore each display
different concepts of an installation.
One could
describe Joanne Patterson Tamayo’s footballs as sculptures, each echoing
the home-made plastic-bag balls she’d seen in her youth.
Agnew Waruguru Njoroge’s cascading plastic pink and white shredded sheets suggest a free-flowing sort of sculpture as well.
What’s
irresistible is Waruguru’s mixed media wall-hanging (once a bedroom
curtain) sparsely covered in embroidery stitched and mixed with shredded
Kanga samples.
Asteria Malinzi also works with Kanga
only her five collages are more like paintings comparable somehow to
Nadia Kisseleva’s award-winning beaded linen works, understated in their
elegance.
Maral is the only one of the 12 to create a
mobile hung with feminist images that continue exploring gender,
identity and sexuality.
Both Maliza Kiasuwa and Tahir created wall-hangings for this show. Both address complex issues of nationality and history.
Otherwise,
the two are different in every way. Tahir’s process of papermaking is
infused with political and historical themes while Maliza’s monumental
woolly wall piece is ablaze with a regal raffia grass crown, a lava-like
landing and thick wild-fire red yarn.
Aptly named “Nyirogongo, the Divinity Volcano,” hers recalls the one that erupted in Eastern Congo, near Maliza’s home in 2002.
Malisa Kiasuwa with her Nyirangongo 1, the Divinity Volcano at Circle
Art (left) and Jackie Karuti's video 'Black birds'. PHOTOS | MARGARETTA
WA GACHERU | NMG
Her majestic deity is one of my favourite works in
this show matched only by Souad Abdel Rassoul’s three
exquisitely-painted violin cases which also echo her people’s
(classical) history.
For in ancient Egypt, the coffins
of elites were painted with portraits of the deceased. Souad’s cases
are meant to be reminiscent of those ancient coffins, only hers are
contemporary works of art.
But just as the ancient
coffins were meant to memorialise the eternal life of the deceased,
Souad’s portraits also bestow an enduring vitality to her violin cases.
The fact that 11 of the 12 artists in ‘New Threads’ are women is especially exciting since women exhibitions in Kenya are rare.
If
they happen at all, they’re usually held in March coincidental with
International Women’s Day on March 8. But the exhibition’s curator Danda
Jaroljmek chose to ‘jump the gun’ by starting off the new year with
newly emancipated voices of women.
New Threads is a
show to be studied, not perused casually. It’s not the sort of
exhibition that initially makes a lot of sense since people tend to
believe art galleries are for viewing aesthetically-pleasing artworks.
But
this exhibition challenges the viewer to work along with the artists to
‘investigate’ not just a finished work, but also the media and the
modalities of their creative processes.
It’s a fascinating new way of appreciating contemporary Kenyan art.
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