In the Midst is the first exhibition to be realised as part of the Art Exchange: Moving Image programme. Curated by E.N Mirembe (Kampala, Uganda) and Rosie Olang’ Odhiambo (Nairobi, Kenya), the installation by artists Darlyne Komukama and Liz Kobusinge, which opened at Afropocene Capsule, Kampala on Friday 2nd August 2024, comprises etchings printed on bark cloth and lint paper juxtaposed with moving image projections.
In the Midst exhibition view. Image courtesy of the curators.
The exhibited works were borne out of an experiment undertaken by the artists during a residency at LAPA Project Space in Johannesburg, South Africa where circular brass plates prepared with soft ground were placed on the floor in their apartment. Friends were invited to dance on the plates creating impressions that acted as an organic archive of community, collective intimacy, and memory whilst holding space for collective art-making. The resulting plates were etched and printed onto handmade bark cloth, an ancient craft native to the Baganda people of southern Uganda.
In the Midst exhibition view. Image courtesy of the curators.
“Our explorations centred on remembrance, and curiosity as a driving force to build on practices that rely on alternative processes and materials, intending to share and expand our interest in sustainable practices as rituals of memory keeping. This process-based materials study explores how we create and document soundscapes, as an access point into a shared inheritance that is preserved through body memory.” - Darlyne Komukama and Liz Kobusinge.
In the Midst exhibition view. Image courtesy of the curators.
In the Midst is the first happening in a series of exhibitions conceived by curators Mirembe and Rosie as part of the Art Exchange: Moving Image programme. The second iteration, titled in transit under another sky opens at Afropocene StudioLab on 10th August and features work by 11 artists; Larry Achiampong, Jessica Atieno, Letaru Dralega, Wezile Harmans, Kabi Kimari, Liz Kobusinge & Darlyne Komukama, Peterson Kamwathi, Mogoi, Neema Ngelime, and SCARLETMOTIFF.
DJ set by exhibiting artist Darlyne Komukama during the opening night of In the Midst on 2nd August 2024. Image courtesy of the curators.
“in transit under another sky invokes the fugitive nature of art and artists working in-between spaces, considering physical geographies as well as other marginal identities and what emerges from the positionality of transience. We take the idea of a ‘moving image’ as a provocation beyond form to affect; moved to feel, or moved to a feeling. Nomadic images that move between spaces, traverse borders, images, shadows and traces that are quite literally in transit. The act of transit being both contentious and generative.” - E.N Mirembe and Rosie Olang’ Odhiambo.
In transit under another sky will run at Afropocene StudioLab, Kampala until 31st August before moving to the Kamene Cultural Centre, Nairobi where it will be on view until 21st September 2024.
Exhibiting artists Liz Kobusinge and Darlyne Komukama with exhibition curator E.N Mirembe and event attendees during the opening of In the Midst on 2nd August 2024. Image courtesy of the curators.
ABOUT ART EXCHANGE: MOVING IMAGE
The Art Exchange: Moving Image programme is a collaborative and cross-cultural curatorial professional development and exhibition programme for early to mid-career visual arts curators from Sub-Saharan Africa working with moving image. The programme is supported by the British Council and organised by LUX, the UK agency for the support and promotion of artists working with moving image, Yinka Shonibare Foundation and Guest Artists Space (G.A.S.) Foundation, Nigeria.
The six winning curators (Abbey IT-A, Ese Emmanuel, Jesse Mpango, Kefiloe Siwisa, E.N Mirembe and Rosie Olang’ Odhiambo) receive mentoring support from LUX and G.A.S., and a dedicated programme of professional development and networking opportunities. These activities are delivered alongside a fully-funded research trip to the UK that took place in December 2023, an opportunity to work with moving image works in the British Council visual arts collection as well as logistical and financial support to stage a final exhibition.
ABOUT E.N MIREMBE
Mirembe (they/them) is a curator, writer, and researcher. Their interdisciplinary curatorial practice attends to literary and visual cultures through a black studies lens. They explore ideas of blackness as a shared ground for intimacy, theory, play, and method. They work with the Njabala Foundation in Kampala to promote and facilitate visibility for women artists.
Mirembe is currently a research fellow with the Center for Humanities Research at the University of the Western Cape. They have held fellowships and residencies with the Zeitz Museum of Contemporary Art Africa in Cape Town, the Arak Art Collection in Doha, the Center for Arts, Design + Social Research in Boston, 32° Degrees East | Ugandan Arts Trust in Kampala, and Bag Factory Artists’ Studios in Johannesburg. Mirembe’s writing has been published in Artforum, Africa is a Country, African Arguments, Literary Hub, Johannesburg Review of Books, African Feminism, and others.
ABOUT ROSIE OLANG' ODHIAMBO
Rosie Olang’ Odhiambo (she/her) is a curator, artist and bookmaker based in Nairobi, Kenya. Her artistic and curatorial approach is hinged on a commitment to generative collaborative processes, centering local context and deep research, all thoughtfully deployed to develop exhibitions, publications and programming that is accessible, sustainable, ambitious and liberatory. She is currently exploring zines, and artists’ books as formats to play across various disciplines engaging with decolonial, queer, feminist, and black radical traditions. More recently alongside down river road and friends she has been experimenting with sound art and installation formats.
Rosie has worked in research, editorial, communications, writing, and project management roles with literary, and visual arts and culture organizations in East Africa and the United States and has previously served as the Head of Programs at the Nairobi Contemporary Art Institute(NCAI).