For both John Kamicha and Shabu Mwangi art is their way of reaching out to their fellow Kenyans and challenging them to reflect on the contradictions and opportunities of modern life in Nairobi. John Kamicha: “That’s what art is about for me: questioning things, not about adopting a style and selling beautiful images of wild animals to tourists, hotels and expats. I want to wake people up. Why keep quiet and pretend and act ignorantly? ”
“Pangaea II draws on works from two vast continents tormented by their own grievances. Sculptural and two-dimensional, that when juxtaposed boil down to the visual exuberance of Latin American, that sugar-coat the causal effects of colonialism, consumerism, and political and social unrest, with unbridled adolescence. And more significantly the constellation of countries in Africa, from where art appears to function as a placebo for the chronic ills of a continent damaged by civil war, starvation, and slavery. All of which makes for a show that is as much about what is behind the curtain, as what is visually present.”
“(…)this exhibition shows six strong female African artists who, by using the body in different ways, express powerful messages. Their messages cover personal victories and visions on femininity, knowing one’s identity through one’s history, reflections on stereotypical thinking, healing the wounds of history by subverting one’s own body and reflections on the pain and alienation of being separated from one’s true identity. “
Rosalie van Deursen on body politics in the work of six female artists from Africa.
“(…) the work brings the ethical and political concerns of the environment, consumerism and waste into view. It suggests that we pay attention to the meanings, limitations and possibilities of recycling, without being didactic and heavy-handed (…).
Yvette Greslé on ‘the wall hangings’ of El Anatsui.
“Absence, in the making of the photographs, seemed like a metaphor for presence, a way to affirm the continued relevance of the girls. By standing in place of portraits of the missing girls, the still life pictures of their possessions carry the same power of recognition that portraits would have carried.”
Emmanuel Iduma on the representation of the schoolgirls kidnapped by Boko Haram.