THE BODY AND THE SELF

The Mute Poet

15th June - 11th July 2024

STATEMENT
I use semi abstract figures as a means to go beyond the conditioning of how we see each other's bodies. This enables me to understand the depth of the body and the self beyond a conditioned mind. In terms of color, I’ve studied the work of Mark Rothko, wassily Kandinsky and Henri matisse. Now I tend to think that the European abstraction artists stole from African fashion and then sold it back to us. In my figures, I borrow heavily from the ancient Egyptian cave art. I’m influenced by artists and poets such as V for 5, Adam yawe, Chelenge, Syowia Kambi and many others who are constantly innovating and challenging the boundaries of being.

THE MUSE

These 10 paintings were made in conversation with artist V for 5 concerning the role of the muse and the history of body objectification in art. They observed that the way we view each other is deeply rooted in how we were taught to look at each other's bodies. By deconstructing the body into flat figures Antony challenges this conditioned patriarchal perceptions. The paintings were produced during Antony and 5’s one month residency at kampi ya lucky in kakamega county.

FULL CATALOGUE AVAILBLE

BIO
Antony Mwangi Kihugu known as the mute poet, is a visual artist and a skateboarder based in Nairobi, Kenya. He is a member of zamani skateboards, a local skateboarding brand founded by Adam yawe which incorporates creativity and design into the culture of skateboarding. He rides for Tanzania based antidote skateboards. He also works on Skater mtrue, a collaborative zine project with artist V for 5 which defines the local skateboard culture. Kihugu views his skate practice as a meditation.

Although he received artistic training from contemporary artist James Mbuthia at an early age, his practice began when he completed a Bachelor of Science in Chemistry at the University of Nairobi in 2020. His work focuses on the ongoing discourse with the self and the interdependence of the self with the other as we navigate space in society. Antony uses yoga as a means for introspection and listening to the self and the body. He applies the human figure to observe and translate his emotional experiences.

Kihugu’s work has been exhibited at the national museums of Kenya’s affordable art show, with The hive and at the HCK annual charity auction and recently during ancestral technologies exhibition at munyu space. He conducted a talk with contemporaryand and Goethe institute about skateboarding and public space during Occupy The Mall event. Antony is currently in a residency at kobo studios courtesy of artist David Thuku.
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ANCESTRAL TECHNOLOGIES

10th May - 30TH May 2024

Indigenous spiritual practices believe that the deceased spend their afterlife on the earth. The land is a resting place for those who came before us, if the resources we use to build our technologies are obtained from the land, then technology is a resting place for the departed. Ancestral Technologies is an installation and public programme which navigates the liminal spaces between past, present, and future, weaving together threads of ancestral wisdom with contemporary digital tools. It honours the interconnectedness of the spirit world with the land and recognises the responsibility of stewarding the digital realm as a sacred extension of this connection. Through a series of curated artworks, web-pieces, video installations, and a participatory public curriculum on web-building, technology is viewed as a conduit for expressing collective wisdom, narratives, and dreams. This exhibition fosters digital sovereignty through understanding the symbiotic relationship between humans, technology, spirit and the natural world.

THE DIGITAL SELF

“The self is fragmented-the internet affords it this complexity. We split & weave (our names) across spaces, marking the boundaries and lines that make the self” - Chia Amisola, Domain Naming. These collection of short films attempt to piece together the multiplicities of self through montage, experimentation and non-linear storytelling.

why are you performing for these mortals - KABI KIMARI
animation
2023

masks+mirrors - L.AKINYI
cinepoetry film experiment
2023

Death Rites - NERIMA MAKHONDO
digital performance
2021

I Put the Miss in Misanthropic - V FOR 5
audio-visual collage
2021

sikuyakawaida.mp3 - V FOR 5
audio-visual collage
2022

tugging on my robe (ft. L) - V FOR 5
audio-visual collage
2022

HELP US OUR LAND
THE MUTE POET, V FOR 5

The ethos of ancestral technology resides within the indigenous belief that the earth is the resting place for the dead. Trees were shrines, worshiped and believed to be the resting places of the ancestors. Help us our land is an installation that houses the nature spirits which are depicted through the artworks of v for 5 and the mute poet.

The Mute Poet
In my journey as an artist I remember vividly when I started seeing figures and faces inside bushes, fences and trees. I would hurriedly draw them in fear that they might disappear. My friend told me that I was seeing them because I was becoming a better artist. Later on having conversations with V for 5 about the land, ancestors, I remembered about my beginnings in Kawaida, a small village that had a lot of trees, rivers, waterfalls and dams. I grieved over the fact that the place I was residing in at that moment, donholm had no green spaces and the one that existed was heavily guarded or being built on. Since there were no more trees to observe, I retreated to my memory to describe these figures and faces that I would access earlier. That's how I came up with the pastel drawings. Two of them I drew live in machakos while surrounded by a forest, at least.

Masii by the hills
Oil pastel on canvas pad
2023

Masii by the mango trees
Oil pastel on canvas pad
2023

Capitalism
Oil pastel on used skate deck
2023

The Forest King
Oil pastel on used skate deck
2023

Help us our land
Oil pastel on canvas pad
2023

Ceremony
Oil pastel on canvas pad
2023

I have never been heard
Oil pastel on cardboard
2023

Spirit of the old green lady
Oil pastel on cardboard
2023

On the land
Oil pastel on used skate deck
2023

V for 5
The subjects of bark and sun are ones that frequently cross my mind. My fiction is about them and in all my daily movements, I always make time to inspect and mythologise with these subjects. Picking up sticks has become a practice that fills up my mythology, sticks carry information about their ecosystem and through their curation in this space I seek them to be small and sacred resting places for those nature spirits displaced by imperialist greed and circumstance, giving them a post-natural resting place to call home. The pieces are thoughts and visions of a nature that is inhabited by many more-than-human living beings whose bodies are the land itself.

Bark Man
Found object
2023

Sun Man
Acrylic on found mask
2024

Wood being with antelope features
Found object from the Kakamega rainforest
2023

My neighbours from hatheru
Oil pastel on canvas panel
2023

Many days, Many nights
Acrylics & oil pastel on plywood
2023

WEB PIECES

A series of hand-made websites by V for 5

MTO
website
2024
Mto is a simple yet ambiguous mixed-media website which invites users to be curious. Using hyperlinks as its main means of experimental navigation, mto hosts things to read, watch and listen to from the world of The Jehovas.

OUR COMMUNITY GARDEN
google sheets
2024
‘Our Community Garden’ is a sheet site that creates the space for community to gather and use technology as a method of showing care.

PUBLIC PROGRAMME
OUR COMMUNITY GARDEN:

Our Community Garden is a sheet site which empowers individuals and communities by giving them greater agency and autonomy over their digital lives. It encourages innovation that enables communities to harness technology to share their updates, projects and art without depending on the algorithm. This brief curriculum will equip communities with the basic web building tools to create the digital spaces they need. The curriculum will involve four workshops around sheet sites and web collages, as well as a classroom on which to learn and discuss about digital gardening, the handmade web and the algorithm. The curriculum will conclude with a final day of presentations of the sheet sites and web collages the participants made.

BIOS

Kabi Kimari
kabi kimari is an anti-disciplinary artist that creates portals to current and alternate realities.

Nerima Makhondo
Nerima Makhondo ApodaSpark was raised in Eldoret, Kenya. They use Xe/They pronouns since Xe identifies as non-human. They are an any-media artist whose foundation is performance. ApodaSpark lives art and arts life using their body to enmesh the two. Xe is a collector of skills like a videogame character. With little institutional training, they have a do-it-yourself approach when making work, where process is more important than product and the specificity of the project determines its medium. In addition to their work being D.I.Y, Xe mixes media because it expands their approach to different themes by creating new conversations as the forms interact. Xe explore themes of trauma and mental health, sexual assault, black political questions, gender violence and questions of masquerade. They are at their best when working with their hands or on a stage. Xe is always seeking to add new skill sets just in case the world as we know it ends. They do not believe in formal institutions from past violent experiences; Xe prefers apprenticeship and self-teaching. Currently, ApodaSpark is transitioning back to full-time creative pursuits in music and their performance practice.

L. Akinyi
Lilian Ⓛ Akinyi was born and raised in Nairobi, KE and has been an artist/maker since childhood. Currently living and working within the Inland Empire, Ⓛ is interested in pursuing opportunities for brave, transformative, conscious expression and collaboration.

The Mute Poet
Antony Mwangi Kihugu also known as the mute poet, is a visual artist and a skateboarder. He is a member of zamani skateboards, a local skateboarding brand founded by Adam Yawe which incorporates creative design into the culture of skateboarding. He rides for Tanzania based antidote skateboards. He also works in a collaborative project with artist Vfor5 called skater mtrue which dissects what it is like to be a skateboarder through written media. Although he received training from contemporary artist James Mbuthia at an early age, his practice began when he completed a Bachelor of Science in Chemistry at the University of Nairobi in 2020. Kihugu’s work has been exhibited at the national museums of Kenya’s affordable art show, with The hive and at the HCK annual charity auction. He conducted a talk with contemporaryand and Goethe institute about skateboarding and public space during Occupy The Mall event. Antony is currently in residency at Kobo Trust, courtesy of Thuku.

V for 5
V for 5 is a multi-hyphenated artist from Nairobi who discovered her passion for writing, web-building, and filmmaking at a young age. After self-publishing her first zine, Bad Poetry; an anthology of poems accompanied by illustrations drawn by Sharon Neema, she pursued studies in scriptwriting and film producing but dropped out to focus on community building. During the pandemic, she deepened her artistic pursuits, publishing poems and plays, and exploring experimental filmmaking. She became involved in skateboarding, leading to collaborations with Zamani Skateboards and forming Skater Mtrue with Antony Mwangi. 5 is one half of the music duo ’The Jehovas’, who have released two singles and host a pirate radio station, the [R.V.E.R]. Her time at SFPC studying HTTPOETICS coincided with the development of the website ‘mto’ and the sheet site ‘Our Community Garden’. Her community practice extends to the web where she shares Ableton and coding tutorials on Youtube. 5's web-building practice, akin to her zine-making, creates networks and builds community.
vfor5.neocities.org

Endemic, an exhibition by Kadallah Burrowes

Opening event - Friday 19.4.24, 9pm || poetry + book making event - 27.4.24, 3pm

Through a fusion of multimedia experiences, "Endemic" looks at an ongoing apocalypse, where feelings of helplessness, rage, and angst collide in a cacophony of artistic expression. In a convergence of diverse mediums and personas, artist Kadallah Burrowes lays out the crises we face, their interconnectedness, and the urgency of awakening to them. From the fringes of a technological singularity to the commercialization and erasure of spirituality.

"HYPER REEL," is a triptych of programmatic video collages exploring themes of simulation, simulacra, and the relentless march toward an uncertain future. These collages, ever-evolving with each viewing, invite viewers to confront the complexities of our digital age.

"060920WEATHERREPORT," is a short experimental film, the emerging polycrisis of our planet takes center stage, woven into the fabric of a DJ set recorded amidst the sweltering heat of a pandemic-stricken city. Set against the backdrop of a scorching Los Angeles, it serves as a reminder of our collective culpability in the face of environmental devastation.

"Hungry Ghost" is a series of photographs captured across China and Taiwan depicting the shifting landscapes of spiritual practice and cultural identity, highlighting the void left by societal upheaval, and the ways we find to cope. There are two visual motifs particularly interesting to focus on in this search for the spirit in an "atheist" authoritarian country and its freer child: passageways and the juxtaposition of spiritual icons with humans engaged in pleasurable acts.

Accompanying these images is "KINDLING FOR A REALM ON FIRE," a collection of poems that oscillate between scathing social commentary and introspective musings on identity in a world struggling to adapt.

"Endemic" is more than a visual feast—it's an interactive exploration of self-discovery and collective awakening. You are invited to create your own books and zines from assorted writings, poetry, and VR screenplays, forging connections amidst the chaos. Through the process of bookmaking, you are tasked with quite literally making meaning out of the work, taking abstract ideas and tying them to this physical plane. In an exhibition anchored by fast-paced, code-driven work, the interactive experience of creating books offers you time for contemplation.

There will also be a presentation by Nabalayo, Bakhita, chairkicker, and Mbeke with the good hair who are artists in the ANANSI Revolutionary Collective.

Melodies of SUNJIR0 and A9C-388 reverberate through the exhibition space, a sonic landscape that mirrors our collective consciousness—a journey marked by discord, yet punctuated by fleeting glimpses of resilience and transformation. Through its exploration of societal collapse, identity crisis, and environmental decay, "Endemic" lays bare the challenges we face, the harsh realities of a world teetering on the brink of oblivion.

poetry + book making event - Saturday 27.4.24, 3pm
Using different texts from poetry and prose, to VR screenplays and nonfiction to make books and zines. You are invited to create your own custom collections throughout the exhibition.

Bio: Kadallah Burrowes
Kadallah is a trans-disciplinary artist and creative technologist whose innovative body of work encompasses a fusion of multimedia experiences, including programmatic video collages, photography, poetry, prose, and experimental film. Through these diverse media, Kadallah offers a penetrating examination of contemporary themes such as poly-crisis, techno-politics, and environmental decay, inviting viewers to confront the complexities of our world with both urgency and introspection. Their practice, rooted in collaborative social art, seamlessly integrates emerging technologies to provoke thought and foster dialogue on pressing social issues. Currently, Kadallah's research centers on the evolution of distributed artist and activist communities, seeking innovative ways to harness technology for positive social impact. Their artworks have been exhibited in notable venues such as Nafasi Art Space (Dar Es Salaam), Power Station of Art (Shanghai), and MoMA PS1 (New York City), providing audiences with thought-provoking insights into contemporary societal dynamics. Their digital projects, including contributions to platforms like COMMON and collaborations with the City of Seattle, underscore the importance of collective action in response to pressing societal challenges. Kadallah's design of ethical technologies has earned recognition from international institutions such as Microsoft, Intel, and the Biodesign Challenge, underscoring their commitment to using innovation as a catalyst for change. As a co-creator of the ANANSI Revolutionary Collective and a member of The Guild of Future Architects, Kadallah actively engages in shaping the future of trans-disciplinary art and its intersection with technology. Their work has been featured in notable publications including Resident Advisor, China Daily, and Radii China, amplifying their impact within the global artistic community.

kadallah.com | anansi.site | Instagram: @kadallah_

Bio:Mbeke with the good hair
Who exactly is Mbeke with the good hair? Until now, they've been nothing more than a concept tucked within the folds in a busy mind. Their creator would argue that their identity matters less than their desire to share something meaningful. Right now, their goal is simple: to ignite a bit of creativity and curiosity.Enter 'One Take,' Mbeke's debut exhibition. It showcases a curated collection of photos captured over a decade, images that would have otherwise remained dormant in the depths of Mbeke's hard drives. Through these snapshots of Mbeke's surroundings and the people within them, art is created - sometimes straightforward, sometimes abstract.

The title of work - 'One Take'

Dimensions - 10 pieces, A4 size, 8.27 x 11.69 inches

Medium - printed photographs

Year of production - 2014 to 2024

Bio: Chairkicker
Chairkicker, also known as Ndung'u Mbithi is a 24 year old artist studying his Bachelors of Music at Kenyatta University. He has a passion for both visual and auditory expression. Chairkicker's artistic journey started with music but he soon intertwined the harmonies of sound and the strokes of paint. Actively using his paintings as cover art for his music. He now aims to separate the two and let the visual art speak outside the music.

The Pretzel - Acrylic on Fabric- 120 × 70cm (2024) - not shown in pictures

Self Portrait's Reflection - 100cm × 80cm (2022) - not shown in pictures

Self Portrait 1 - Acrylic on Wood - 20 × 26 cm (2022)

Tonsillectomy - Acrylic on Wood 60 × 90 cm (2022)

Climbing Up Walls - Acrylic on Wood 90 × 60 cm & Sonata - Acrylic on Wood 94 × 15 cm (were combined to make one larger piece) (2023)

Chair Kicker 1 - Woven Sisal & Acrylic paint 70 × 60 cm (2022)

Memento Mori 1 - Embroidery and Acrylic on Denim 80 × 14 cm (2022)