Solo Exhibitions

Levy Pooe: Mphe Mphe ya Lapisa will be on view at The Bag Factory in Johannesburg, South Africa from February 20 to March 12, 2021

This body of work is an extension of Pooe’s ongoing themes that revolve around his relationship with the urban space, and representation of black figures engaged in contemplative activities and daily rituals. Mphe Mphe ya Lapisa, motho o kgona ke sagagwe is a seTswana idiom, which can be translated to: “The constant act of asking is tiring. It is better to have your own.” Mphe Mphe Ya Lapisa emerges from the universal experience of how we see ways of asking and how we become victims to this state of being. This theme poses questions such as but not limited to: What do we ask for? When do we ask? Who do we ask? From which spaces do we ask? Taking the artist’s relationship with the city of Johannesburg as its source of inspiration, the acrylic paintings and charcoal drawings presented will interpret that theme in various ways.

Raphaël Barontini: The Night of the Purple Moon is still on view at Mariane Ibrahim in Chicago, United States until March 6, 2021

The gallery will be transformed into a Galerie des Illustres, an otherworldly environment with large scale portraits on canvas and flags. Fictional heroes and historical reinterpretations embellish subjects from classical and canonical histories: from the Caribbean, Voodoo and magical deities, to function as a way for formerly enslaved humans to hold on to their African identity, despite the violence of Western colonialism. Barontini illuminates disparities in the visual and cultural history of the French Caribbean, which is rooted in African ancestry, yet virtually saturated with culture of an insular Caribbean. Inspired by creatives such as Romare Bearden, and Hannah Höch who collaged a handful of materials and ideas to reflect the glitches of modern civilization during their time, Barontini meticulously builds a vernacular language of symbolism, artifact, and ritual.

Group Exhibitions

In Dialogue will be on view at Alliance Française Accra in Accra, Ghana from February 4-17, 2021

The exhibition will be free and open to all but on appointment only. It aims at supporting Ghanaian youth working in the creative sector through six Ghanaian artists selected to present their works. These talents have each received an artist’s grant that will allow them to create unique pieces that will be unveiled to the public during the exhibition. The paintings, installations, photographs, and digital paintings created will not only shed light on one or several aspects of the work of the European Union in Ghana, but also aim at generating conversations around new and innovative ways to collaborate. In Dialogue also seeks to enhance the cultural dialogue between Ghana and the European Union through the experiences of six female European artists based in Ghana. Their artworks portray the Ghanaian way of life through a European lens.

Sites of Memory will be on view at UTA Artist Space in Beverly Hills, United States from February 11 to March 6, 2021

Sites of Memory considers how the act of remembering is a site of critical and generative excess. Contained to reverie, remembering resides in an illimitable space, extending out and in towards what was or what perhaps or what could have been. Finding utility in the photographic strategy of the snapshot, where spontaneity and chance hold the capacity to formulate volumes on otherwise ephemeral moments, this exhibition explores the sensory components in such wanted desires. Titled after Toni Morrison’s essay, “The Site of Memory,” the show is guided by her notion that “the act of imagination is bound up with memory” and that remembering is the modality of visions.

Talks

Black Quantum Futurism: Online Reading Sessions will be hosted online by Temporary Gallery, United States on February 16, 2021

Recent studies have shown that due to our increasingly digitized lifestyle we are losing focus after about eight seconds. This is less than the average attention span for the notoriously poorly concentrated goldfish. To combat this condition, Temporary Gallery introduces this season, a new informal, (self-) educational initiative – reading sessions. Their goal is to deepen and intensify discussion of the themes related to contemporary art and art theory as well as the program of Temporary Gallery. This series of reading sessions is dedicated to the artistic practice of Black Quantum Futurism an interdisciplinary creative practice between Camae Ayewa and Rasheedah Phillips. Together with Black Quantum Futurism the audience will analyze texts, listen to music and explore the visuality of the collective’s fascinating work.