Kaloki Nyamai, Untitled, 2023

* denotes required fields

In order to respond to your enquiry, we will process the personal data you have supplied to communicate with you in accordance with our Privacy Policy. You can unsubscribe or change your preferences at any time by clicking the link in our emails. This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google: Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

This website uses cookies
This site uses cookies to help make it more useful to you. Please contact us to find out more about our Cookie Policy.

* denotes required fields

mixed media, acrylic, collage
stitching on canvas

220 x 224 cm
86 5/8 x 88 1/4 in

Drawing heavily on the stories of the Kamba people his grandmother recounted, Kaloki Nyamai (b. 1985, Kenya) explores how identity and the perception of the self is inflected by the...

Drawing heavily on the stories of the Kamba people his grandmother recounted, Kaloki Nyamai (b. 1985, Kenya) explores how identity and the perception of the self is inflected by the past, present, and future. He works with multiple media, layering each work with rich textures that reveal various figures and abstract forms. These representations present an alternative to the flat, one-dimensional identities that are the legacy of colonialism. Nyamai turns to these textured, layered interpretations of the self and time as an antidote to the singular narrative of History that is taught as the definitive account of Kenya and its people. These works speak to daily life, past events, what justice has come to mean, and the political faultlines of postcolonial Kenya. Commenting on his own lived experience or stories that he has been entrusted with, Nyamai sees his work as part of a lineage of storytelling his grandmother and other ancestors practiced, passing on tales from one generation to another to produce an understanding of history that is complex, plural, and contradictory. His art often depicts fragments of forms that must be pieced together slowly. The viewer is called on to search through and make connections between forms, which mimics the artist’s creative process as well as how one would sift through and make meaning of the many histories storytelling produces.

Exhibitions

Filling in the Pieces in Black, Curated by June Sarpong, Saatchi Gallery (Organized by MARUANI MERCIER Gallery, Belgium), October - November 2023, London, UK

Curated by June Sarpong | Saatchi Gallery: Filling in the Pieces in Black

Join our mailing list

Maruani Mercier

Privacy Policy

Contact

Cookie preferences

Join our mailing list

Kaloki Nyamai

Exhibitions