On Thursday 21 November 2019, Zeitz Museum of Contemporary Art Africa (Zeitz MOCAA) in Cape Town opened an exhibition titled Acts at the Crossroads by internationally acclaimed, Nigerian-born artist Otobong Nkanga.
Nkanga has been the recipient of numerous awards, most recently the inaugural Lise Wilhelmsen Art Award (2019) from the Norwegian Henie Onstad Art Centre, and the Sharjah Art Foundation Prize (2019) in the United Arab Emirates.
Acts at the Crossroads is a significant survey exhibition, and the first museum exhibition on the African continent of the artist’s work. It includes works from the last two decades – a multidisciplinary practice that considers humanity’s connection to the environment in complex ways.
“Shaping memory” (Photographs: Cliffordene Norton)
Rather than present us with an instructive method of documentation and observation, Nkanga grounds her work in a familiarity of encounter between viewer, artist, and object and asks us to consider the earth as an extension of the physical human body, to understand that it too is undeniably alive.
“Exploring environmental damage and the politics of land, her practice becomes a conduit, a voice for these raw, organic materials. Acts of labour, mining, commodification and trade have an impact on the earth that is also mirrored in the ways we treat the body,” says Curatorial Assistant, Precious Mhone.
Acts at the Crossroads explores a host of potential outcomes that present themselves at points of convergence. An agreement or understanding between two parties, a merger of ideas, thoughts, belief systems, cultures, histories and narratives. Connections become created, bonds are formed and solidified or broken. Differing ideologies are confronted, things are torn apart or brought together.
The exhibition invites viewers to connect with themselves and each other at these points of awareness and reflexivity, through a range of media including drawing, painting, photography and video works, geological matter and decayed minerals.
“I thought it was interesting to be able to think about these ideas, especially in South Africa, which for me has been a kind of crossroads. Or the acts or pacts that have been very much related to land and landscape,” explains Nkanga. “So, when I was really thinking about the title, I wanted to allude to entering into the realm of matter and material and its effect on different groups of people.”
“I am thrilled – and honoured – to host Otobang at our museum. I have known and worked closely with her for many years and celebrated her success each step of the way, says Zeitz MOCAA Executive Director and Chief Curator Koyo Kouoh.
“Her far-reaching practice echoes a globalisation that suggests we bear a true and honest connection with each other that transcends the notion of borders and emphasises the shared human condition. She gives voice to a need to reconnect and rethink our relationship to the earth, both personally and globally – a message that is never more pertinent than right now.”
Nkanga’s most recent solo exhibitions include From Where I Stand at Tate St. Ives (2019), A Lapse, a Stain, a Fall at ar/ge kunst, Bolzano (2018), and To Dig a Hole that Collapses Again at MCA Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago (2018).
- Exhibition name: Acts at the Crossroads
- Exhibiting artist: Otobong Nkanga
- Venue: Level 2, Zeitz MOCAA, Silo District, V&A Waterfront
- Run dates: 21 November 2019–23 February 2020
- Exhibition curator: Koyo Kouoh, Precious Mhone