The Ease of Fiction
March 3 – June 19, 2016
Image credits below
The Ease of Fiction presents the work of four African artists living in the United States as the foundation of a critical discussion about history, fact, and fiction. The artists, ruby onyinyechi amanze (b. 1982, Nigeria), Duhirwe Rushemeza (b. 1977, Rwanda), Sherin Guirguis (b. 1974, Egypt), and Meleko Mokgosi (b. 1981, Botswana), present recent paintings, drawings and sculptural works that explore issues of cultural identity, personal agency, and the very notion of “African art.”
The exhibition’s title evokes the idea that people are often more comfortable accepting or believing what is told to them by those in power, rather than challenging and investigating the authenticity of information presented as historical fact. Interweaving their personal experiences and memories into broader historical contexts, these artists create work that is in strident opposition of passive acceptance.
The artists’ cultural backgrounds, as well as geographic diversity, create an opportunity for a provocative examination of varied perspectives of the truth. Although these artists are from four different African countries their work addresses universal issues that are relevant across all borders.
Curated by Dexter Wimberly
Dexter Wimberly is an independent curator based in New York. A passionate collector and supporter of the arts, Wimberly has exhibited the work of hundreds of artists in the U.S. and abroad. Wimberly maintains a critical dialogue with artists throughout the world by way of his exhibitions, public programs, and talks at galleries and public art spaces. Wimberly is the former Director of Strategic Planning at Independent Curators International (ICI). He currently serves on the board of The Laundromat Project. Wimberly has organized exhibitions and programs for Mixed Greens Gallery; Driscoll Babcock Galleries; 101 Exhibit; Edward Tyler Nahem Fine Art; bitforms gallery; Koki Arts, Tokyo; the Museum of Contemporary African Diasporan Arts (MoCADA); and The University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill; among others.
Dexter Wimberly video interview with THE BHOLDR
Image courtesy Dexter Wimberly
ruby onyinyechi amanze
ruby onyinyechi amanze’s drawings envision speculative narratives of self-discovery, supernatural existence and spatio-temporal escapism to evoke ideas around cultural hybridity, belonging and displacement. Her works on paper are influenced by textile design, photography, printmaking and architecture.1
Currently residing in the US, amanze is of Nigerian birth and British upbringing. Not easily categorized, in her formative years amanze sought to determine her own definition of personal identity. amanze’s fantastical drawings include an ever-growing cast of characters including Audre the Leopard, Pidgen, and ada the Alien – often described as the artist’s alter ego. These characters and others were envisioned during amanze’s travel to Nigeria as a Fulbright fellow in 2012.
amanze’s drawing, kindred (2014) presents her characters in a family portrait that is both stately and playful. Other works such as ada rests in places unknown (2014) and tenderhearted (audre) crosses the sea (2014) place amanze’s cast in various otherworldly interactions that volley between the familiar and pure fantasy. amanze has stated that “ada the Alien was born out of necessity: the need to identify a neutral voice through which to tell stories that highlight the complexities of experiencing home as an alien or foreign being.”
ruby onyinyechi amanze, kindred, 2014, graphite, ink, pigment, enamel, photo transfers, glitter on paper, 80”x78”
Photo courtesy of Tiwani Contemporary, London and the artist
Sherin Guirguis
Born in Luxor, Egypt, as a non-Muslim female, Sherin Guirguis’ identity was developed in a rapidly changing cultural environment that included her family moving to the US when she was 14 years old. Guirguis originally studied geology, but would later commit herself to being an artist. Her visual vocabulary includes a brilliant articulation of abstraction, pattern and geometry.
Influenced by Middle Eastern architecture and West Coast Modernism, Sherin Guirguis’ Untitled (Bab Huda), 2013, Untitled (lahzet zaman), 2013, and Untitled (Bab El-Hadeed), 2013, explore transitional spaces from historically relevant locations in Egyptian feminism, more specifically the life of Huda Shaarawi, a pioneer Egyptian feminist leader and nationalist, and the birth of the Egyptian Women’s Union. By continuing her previous practice of hand cut works on paper, embedded with gold powder and gold leafing, Sherin uses architectural references such as doorways, windows, and arches to convey the significance of the site and the role it plays in establishing a radical ideology. The paintings include a representation of the door to Huda Shaarawi’s house (one of the last functional harems in the country) and the Cairo railway station Bab El-Hadid, where she and her colleague Saiza Nabrawi removed their veils.2
Sherin Guirguis, Untitled (Bab Huda), 2013, mixed media on hand-cut paper, 108”x 72”
Photo courtesy of The Third Line Gallery, Dubai and the artist
Meleko Mokgosi
Meleko Mokgosi is concerned with the history of painting. However, through his work he critiques and subverts it. Mokgosi’s Ruse of Disavowal (2013) is part of Pax Kaffraria (2010 – 2014) the artist’s eight-chapter project that takes Botswana, South Africa, Zambia, and Zimbabwe as case studies.
Pax Kaffraria brings together two terms. “Pax,” taken from the original phrase: “we Romans have purchased the pax Romana with our blood,” highlights the essence of institutionalized, enforced “peace” at the height of the Roman Empire. “Pax Romana,” contrary to conventional belief is not about peace but rather about nationalism; it is precisely about the bond between blood and soil that undergirds nationalist projects and a certain understanding of “peace.” “Kaffraria” is a term that was first used by the British in the eighteenth century to establish “British Kaffraria:” a subordinate administrative entity that was primarily inhabited by the Xhosa. More precisely, “kaffraria” is a British adaptation of the word “kaffir,” derived from Arabic and coopted by the Dutch or Boer in South Africa, and used as the equivalent of the derogatory term “nigger.” Pax Kaffraria then is a forcefully made appellation that is chiefly historical and mythical, thus the project primarily aims to investigate the multiple facets that account for the driving force of national identification and liberation movements both in their emergent and subsequent forms.3 At its core, the Pax Kaffraria series considers the creation of capital “H” History and the ways in which societies produce narratives. The imagery is drawn from the histories of Southern Africa, transmogrified under artist’s brush as questions of nationhood, colonialism, history and post-colonial aesthetics.4
Meleko Mokgosi, Ruse of Disavowal (detail), 2013, oil and charcoal on canvas, 108” x 132”, 96”x132”, 96”x180”, 108”x180”, 108”x132”, 96”x132”, 108”x132”
Photo courtesy of Honor Fraser Gallery, Los Angeles and the artist
Installation view: Lyon Biennale, Museum of Contemporary Art, Lyon, France
Duhirwe Rushemeza
Duhirwe Rushemeza’s current body of work evolved from earlier practice developed in response to the 1994 Rwandan genocide where 800,000 men, women, and children perished. Using reductive Linocuts – a printmaking technique – Rushemeza created images of young survivors. The artist subsequently found inspiration from other aspects of Rwandan history, as well as her travels to Cote d’Ivoire in West Africa, and Germany. Inspired by traditional imigongo cow dung paintings, Modernism, and childhood memories of deteriorated colonial buildings in Rwanda and other African countries, Rushemeza’s sculptural paintings Who Am I When I Am Free (2014) and Red Ochre, White and Blue (2014) appear to have been extracted directly from the walls aging buildings. However, they are masterfully constructed in the artist’s studio through a process that includes building up dozens of layers of paint and metal detritus, and then stripping away those layers to mimic the effects of weather, erosion, and the passage of time.
Duhirwe Rushemeza, Mustard Yellow, Mauve, Mint, and Grey Matter, 2014, mixed media, 48”x 48”x 5”
Photo courtesy of the artist
REFERENCES:
1 Tiwani Gallery: ruby onyinyechi amanze
2 Yasmine El Rashidi. Artful Passages.
3 Meleko Mogkosi: Pax Kaffraria (2010 – 2014)
4 Medeine Tribinevicius. Mail & Guardian. An Interrogation of Post-colonial History. June 27, 2014.
WITH GRATITUDE :
AV Metro • AC Restaurants • AJ Fletcher Foundation • Aloft Hotels • Belmont Sayre • THE BHOLDR • Capitol Broadcasting Company • Citrix • Clearscapes, PA • Creative Office of Joshua Gajownik • Damian Stamer • Duda | Paine Architects • Ella Ann and Frank B. Holding Foundation • First Tennessee Bank • Flanders Art Gallery • Robert P. Holding Foundation • Hobby Properties • Hodge and Kittrell Sotheby’s International Realty • Honor Fraser • Kane Realty Corporation/The Dillon • Kelvin Ward • Morningstar Law Group • Newmark Grubb Knight Frank • NSI Labs • Parker Poe Adams & Bernstein • Peggy Cooper Cafritz • PNC Bank • PNC Foundation • Paul Coggins, DDS, MPH, PA • R. Glen Medders, MD • Research Triangle Park Foundation • SiteLink • Surevest • Telepathic Graphics • Themeworks • The Third Line • Thomas Law Group • Tiwani Contemporary • The Umstead Hotel and Spa • Womble Carlyle Sandridge & Rice • CAM/now • The Betty Eichenberger Adams Society
Marvin J. Malecha, FAIA, Dean, College of Design, North Carolina State University, retired
CAM’s educational and community programs are funded in part by the Goodnight Educational Foundation, The Grable Foundation, the William R. Kenan, Jr. Charitable Trust, IBM Community Grants, SunTrust and the United Arts Council of Raleigh and Wake County. Free Family Sundaes are funded by the PNC Foundation.
