Shonibare created an exhibition where he wanted to show the spiritual and universal function of the African aesthetic. He created a stylised collection of works that he sought to find an historic discourse for without losing the trace of the abstract and literal interaction with western influences.
Nitegeka work is stylised and self-referential, he creates exhibitions in which space becomes political through its very structure.
I want you to talk about your main and artistic modality, and what you see to be the symbolic and literal place you as an artist occupy, in both the western context and in your African context.
The exhibition discoursed the theme of powerlessness through the stories of a sex worker who became a prophetess, Madzimai Catherine in the Nyenyedzi Nomwe Apostolic Church. Mukwazhi sought to subvert the traditional power relations imposed on women’s bodies by patriarchal structures.
The figures in the exhibition were expressed in a way that concretized their historic circumstances as black bodies. Being immersed in a space that welcomes their lack of navigating their bodies in a culture that makes what is visual pedagogic.