Solo Exhibitions

Christelle Oyiri: An Eye for an “I” is still on view at the Museum für Moderne Kunst in Frankfurt, Germany until June 23, 2024

They can’t be seen, but they have to see everything. They never stay fixed in one place. Without being noticed, they continually change their position and their vantage point. Despite the constant background noise, they pick up every sound. They are all eyes and ears. They know everyone—their habits, their movements. But no one sees them. They receive little payment but bear a huge responsibility. The choufs (which mean see or look in Arabic) stay at their posts, always on the alert. These discreet figures warn drug dealers immediately while remaining untraceable themselves. In our present-day lives, it seems impossible to avoid being seen, observed, or analyzed. Cameras and cookies are watching every move, following each action, emotion, and thought. So how is freedom possible despite this? How can we feel free and think freely? How is it to oscillate between secrecy and having your sense of self located in the digital? Could the chouf be a model, a keystone of countersurveillance?

Elias Mung’ora: One of Many Ideas of Home is still on view at Montague Contemporary in New York, United States until June 29, 2024

In his new series One of Many Ideas of Home, Elias Mung’ora embarks on a deeply personal exploration of identity, belonging, and familial history. Drawing from his own experiences and relationships, as well as a quest to understand his ancestry in Nyeri, Central Kenya, Mung’ora weaves a rich narrative that examines the interplay between individual lives and broader historical contexts. Through the integration of old family photographs, often layered to the point of obscurity, he seeks to connect with and evoke memories and histories that are otherwise inaccessible, inviting a reflection on the ways we relate to our pasts. His work transcends the autobiographical, challenging viewers to consider their own perceptions of home and identity against the backdrop of Kenya’s colonial history and the universal quest for rootedness and connection.

Ermias Ekube: Memories are we are memories is still on view at Ed Cross in London, United Kingdom until June 29, 2024

Using mirrors as a central motif, Ekube’s series depicts domestic scenes and obscured figures, challenging us to confront the distortion inherent in reminiscence. Across more than a dozen works, parallels between mirrors and canvases – both hung on walls to be looked at, similar sizes and shapes – are reiterated; boundaries between art and life, dissolved. There is a familial appeal to these tableaus – and in fact, many of the figures featured are members of the artist’s family. Yet any comfort conveyed by the series’ domestic settings is undercut by the disquieting inconsistencies revealed in their reflections: a hand holding a cafetiere appears in the mirror to be holding an espresso cup instead; an orange on a table vanishes in the mirror that should reflect it.

Group Exhibitions

Traces of Ecstasy is still on view at the Institute for Contemporary Art in Richmond, United States until June 9, 2024

Traces of Ecstasy is an adaptation of a pavilion and exhibition project premiering at the Lagos Biennial in February 2024.                This second, reimagined iteration of Traces of Ecstasy at the ICA continues the Lagos pavilion’s aims to unsettle the colonial capitalist power structures that maintain and reproduce the ideological legitimacy of the nation-state in post/neocolonial Africa and the wider world. Providing a space for critique, repair, and “freedom-dreaming,” it features artists from the African continent and its Diasporas including Nolan Oswald Dennis, Evan Ifekoya, Raymond Pinto, Temitayo Shonibare, and Adeju Thompson. The exhibition expands on the scale and breadth of each artist’s contribution to the Lagos pavilion, presenting works that span sculpture, installation, video, sound, drawing, textile, performance, and digital art, in addition to a reading room and a symposium.

Festivals

Woori Festival 2024 is taking place at the Nubuke Foundation Centre in Wa, Ghana until June 30, 2024

The city of Wa in the Upper West region of Ghana is hosting the Woori 2024 Festival, an annual event that celebrates the rich heritage of Ghanaian weaving and textiles. Organised by the Nubuke Foundation Centre for Textiles and Clay in Loho, Wa, this year’s festival is themed “Weaving a Sustainable Future for the Next Generation”, focusing on the transmission of cultural heritage and the promotion of sustainable artistic practices to safeguard the future. This year’s Woori promises to be a celebration of culture, creativity, and community activism, showcasing the best of Ghanaian weaving traditions and textile design. The festival will feature a range of activities, including educational workshops, an art exhibition, live demonstrations, performances, film screenings, music, and a fashion show.