Cogito ergo sum. I think, therefore I am. In doubting our own existence, René Descartes proposed, we prove the reality of our own mind. Grappling with reality and figuring out what we are has been a constant pursuit for mankind. The modern sage, unrelenting in this pursuit, is the artist.
From the most distinguished artists on the Kenyan contemporary art scene, I chose the truth- seekers, the rabble rousers; the artists that push the envelope and successfully convey an alternative reality. All of the artwork was produced in 2015 and some of it has never been seen before. It is my hope that each piece moves you to question your everyday reality. Consider them one by one, and then step back, and consider what they all say to each other.
Shabu Mwangi’s mixed media paintings explore loneliness, suffering, and the callous way we treat each other, while Paul Onditi’s “Smokey” – the iconic subject who first came to us as a lone figure, naïve and floating in his own void evolves: from an outsider questioning our peculiar society, to the modern urbanite adapting to city life. A true existentialist, Smokey has learned that life only possesses the meaning we give it. He not only roams the metropolitan streets in suit and hat now, but he has company. With his new entourage, Smokey appears to have found self-importance.
The collection of artwork in [therefore I am] confronts a bizarre world. Most of the paintings bring us figures, like Smokey, straining to make sense of a rapidly transitioning orb. Gor Soudan creates the same affect through his non-figurative sculptures. In using wood and metal, he is playing with the atomic building blocks of our reality, organic and inorganic. Soudan explores the inevitability of evolution, of change, and the impact of urbanization on the planet and inside our heads.
Ethiopian artist Fitsum Woldelibanos continues to deal with the creation of identity and the relationship between man and his environment, but in his new paintings, from his solo ‘Time Space Reality’ exhibition at Marc van Rampelberg’s showroom in Nairobi, he says he has discovered “an intersection point between discovering and being at the same time.” Woldelibanos describes this moment as a “deep urge or search for something bigger than just living in one dimension, then you transcend and explore the self from other dimensions.”
The celebrated portrait series from Sudanese artist Eltayeb Dawebait depicts the faces of the people he has encountered in the past and present. In their similarity, his ambiguous etchings point to a oneness of humanity and the idea that perhaps we are all from the same source: the same essence, existing in different bodies and undergoing different experiences.
Michael Soi takes us from the subconscious to the conscious as he continues to expose the boundaries we cross to satisfy our greed. We face a band of progressive Kenyans taking a selfie, the strange epidemic that has permeated urban culture. Then, we catch two ladies of the night dressed in semi-professional attire to hide a side of themselves, shunned in their career choice by an extremely hypocritical society.
To curate, I’ve always believed, is to combine artists’ creations and form something greater. The exhibition itself must become a work of art in its own right; a sum bigger than the parts. [therefore I am] brings us some of Kenya’s most provocative new art; I hope that, as a whole, it challenges us with even more questions than each piece could on its own. It has been a pleasure to work with this select group of East African artists, many of whom I’ve written about before. In bringing their works together, I have realized a dream.
Here are the sages of our time. Let’s listen to what they have to say: to each other, to us.
Zihan Kassam
Curator
[Artist& Art Correspondent]