SHAPES OF WATER/ GROUP EXHIBITION
Courtesy of Afriart Gallery
Shapes of Water is a group exhibition presenting works by women artists from Eastern and Southern Africa. The exhibition offers space
for individual and genuine expressions of femininity by artists from Uganda, Kenya, Tanzania, DRC, Sudan, Mozambique, and South Africa. It
hopes to instigate conversations and inspire to imagine new possibilities.
In this exhibition, some of the physical, cultural, and political characteristics and implications of the element water may act as a
metaphor or ‘lens’ through which to think about expressions of femininity in the artists’ work.
Blessed is the Spectrum, 2020, Digitally manipulated drawing, Archival print on Hahnemuhle Photo Rag Paper, 3 +2 APs, 42 x 29.7 cm
Water, in the form of solids, liquids, and gas, is the earth’s and human body’s main constituent and, therefore, our main source of life.
It’s valued, treasured, and at the same time, so hard to contain. Humans have always attempted to control water, its flow, and
accessibility, and to direct the source of life to irrigate agriculture, save drinking water and keep it from showing up as
destructive floods.
Canary, 2023, Mixed Media on Paper, 117 x 96 cm
Water politics is now a global concern, such as the policing of a woman’s body is being debated in many forms in different cultures
around the world. Yet her genuine expression always finds a way to seep through – at times in joy, other times in pain.
Sundays are not Rest Days 2, 2023 Oil on Canvas, 110 x 68 cm
Over centuries of patriarchy, women have and still are morphing into any shape to sustain themselves - gracefully, fearfully leaning in like a straightened stream, rearing up like a torrential river, carving canyons into history, and at the same time bearing and
sustaining life.
Eco-Target 3, 2023 Wool and Threads, 200 x 50 cm
She is fluid. Femininity is fluid, so this exhibition suggests. Femininity changes its shape as it pleases, disregarding the many
voices trying to contain it in an 8-shaped vessel. She might turn into ice, breaking the vessel into pieces. She might rise from the vessel as a cloud and rain down on more fertile ground elsewhere. This exhibit is curated by Lara Buchmann.
Installation View, 'Shapes of Water', Afriart Gallery, May - August 2023, Courtesy of Afriart Gallery
EXHIBITING ARTISTS: Charity Atukunda (Uganda), Amani Azhari (Sudan), Naseeba Bagalaaliwo (Uganda), Nelsa Guambe (Mozambique), April Kamunde (Kenya), Maliza Kiasuwa (DRC), Charlene Komuntale (Uganda), Kitso Lynn Lelliott (South Africa), Sungi Mlengeya (Tanzania), and Mona Taha (Uganda).
There will be an artist talk Thursday, 27th July 2023, at 6.00 PM, Afriart Gallery SHAPES OF WATER – ARTISTS TALK: “EXPRESSING FEMININITY: NAVIGATING THE PERSONAL AND THE POLITICAL.” The exhibit first opened on May 27th of this year and will conclude on the 12th of August of this year.
For more information, please visit Afriart Gallery’s site, and follow them on Instagram.
