ACCOMPANYING EVENTS CURRENT EXHIBITION KAPWANI KIWANGA: KINJIKETILE SUITE To speak of things you have not seen Dorine van Meel Wed 20 May, 7pm, £5/£3 Conc, Clore Studio Between the Dog and the Wolf For this lecture-performance, presented in conjunction with Until 14 Jun 2015 the exhibition Kinjiketile Suite, Kapwani Kiwanga takes us on First Floor Galleries, Free a journey between fact and fiction whilst revealing forgotten 15 APR – 7 JUN 2015 accounts and fantastical stories associated with the legacy of MAIN GALLERY the Maji Maji rebellion. ADMISSION FREE
Exhibition Tours Daily, 1pm and Last Fridays, 7pm, Free EXHIBITION GUIDE Join the SLG’s gallery assistants for an informal drop-in tour of the current exhibitions: Kapwani Kiwanga: Kinjiketile Suite and Dorine van Meel: Between the Dog and the Wolf. (No booking required)
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South London Gallery, 65–67 Peckham Road, London SE5 8UH 020 7703 6120 [email protected] www.southlondongallery.org Twitter: @SLG_artupdates Instagram: @southlondongallery KAPWANI KIWANGA: KINJIKETILE SUITE 15 APR – 7 JUN 2015
The South London Gallery presents the first UK solo embody the collective process inherent in the spirit of the GROUND FLOOR exhibition by artist Kapwani Kiwanga. Her practice uprising, and allude to Ujamaa; a particular kind of socialism interweaves a research-based investigation, influenced by established in Tanzania by Julius Nyerere which promoted earlier training in social sciences, with a more subjective the collectivisation of farming. FOX GARDEN and fictional observation of culture. Through performances, Café Lift sound installations and video that utilise documentary A parallel narrative is told by Kiwanga herself through a tropes, Kiwanga’s particular interest in the transmission sequence of short audio vignettes which deliver a subjective of culture drives her exploration into the formal potential and personal entry point to the story of the Maji Maji uprising. 3 4 of oral histories. Audible at different points throughout the exhibition space, her narration functions as a fragmented guide through the MAIN GALLERY For this exhibition, Kiwanga continues her research into the show. 6 5 legacy of the 1905-1907 Maji Maji uprising against German
colonial rule in what was then Tanganyika, German East www.southlondongallery.org/kapwanikiwanga Road Peckham Africa. According to oral history, the rebellion was fuelled #kapwanikiwanga by the prophecies of the spiritual medium Kinjiketile, who 2 1 galvanised the Maji Maji fighters against the colonial rulers Photography is not permitted in the main gallery. with his belief in a sacred water, which would make anyone Please refrain from touching all objects in the exhibition. who consumed it invincible to the German bullets. More than a temporary union against the common enemy, the rebellion Live performances will take place in the main gallery every provided the possibility of creating an alternative and unified Saturday between 12–4pm for the duration of the exhibition. social structure in the country. Although the uprising failed to overthrow German rule, the aftermath of the war had long- Actors: Brian Chandrabose, Shepherd Manyika, Sam term effects on the land and its people. Kiwanga uses this Marberg, Mary Nyambura event, and its adaptation in folklore and popular culture, as Section 1 Section 3 Julius K. Nyerere, Ujamaa – Essays Front cover of a Maji Maji Tanu Youth With thanks to Luce Lenoir, Dora Peters, Hannah Louise on Socialism, 1968 League newsletter, 1974 a starting point from which to trace how historical accounts Extract from archival footage of an Reciting Doubt, video of staged Dar es Salaam, Oxford University Press REF WONG/7/49 reproduced by kind Simmons, Catherine Tilke, Lucie Wright. African entertainment unit, 1944, extracts of Kinjeketile by Ebrahim N. linger in a collective consciousness and weigh on a nation’s permission of Ansel Wong. Courtesy of digitised 16mm film, 1:35 min Hussein, 2015, 3:40min William Shakespeare, Julius Caesar, identity long after their occurrence. the Black Cultural Archives Courtesy of the Trustees of the translated by Julius K. Nyerere, VYAKULA VINGI VIPANDENI Imperial War Museum 1963 Arusha Declaration pamphlet by VITOSHE VIJANA VYA VITA VIWE For Kinjiketile Suite, she translates her research-based Oxford University Press President Nyerere of Tanzania, Ebrahim N. Hussein, Kinjeketile, VIOJA, poster printed by Survey Biography c.1967 practice into the exhibition space, weaving together material English version, 1970 Division D.S.M, Tanganyika, Kapwani Kiwanga (b.1978 Hamilton, Canada. Lives in Paris, REF WONG/6/101 reproduced by kind Dar es Salaam, Oxford University Press September 1942 from various sources, from eyewitness accounts of the events Section 4 permission of Ansel Wong. Courtesy of France) studied Anthropology and Comparative Religions at Translation: Plant lots of food so it of the Maji Maji rebellion compiled in a study by the University Ebrahim N. Hussein, Kinjeketile, the Black Cultural Archives McGill University, Canada. She has been artist-in-residence is enough for the young men of war Life Magazine, 7 February 1964 of Dar Es Salaam, through to Ebrahim N. Hussein’s influential Swahili version, 1969 so they can be terrifying/marvels. at L’Ecole National Supérieure des Beaux-Arts, Paris; Le Dar es Salaam, Oxford University Press Kanga fabric play Kinjeketile (1969). Source texts are interpreted by actors Courtesy of the Trustees of the Section 6 Fresnoy: National Contemporary Art Studio, Tourcoing; MU in English and Swahili every Saturday between 12-4pm. Selection of collected papers from Imperial War Museum [Blackout], text based video from Castor oil plants (Ricinus communis Foundation, Eindhoven and Le Manège, Dakar. Maji Maji research project, 1968 extracts of Kinjeketile by Ebrahim N. Additional ephemera and archival matter compiled in the Julius K. Nyerere, Man and 'Zanzibarensis') Dar es Salaam: University College, Hussein, 2015, 1:15min course of Kiwanga’s research, is housed within a custom- Development, 1974 G.E. Gwassa and J. Iliffe (eds) Her film and video works have been nominated for two Oxford University Press Light box with photographic made architecture prompting a layered reading of the source transparencies of artist research in BAFTAs and have received awards at international film Section 5 materials. The multiple voices of these accounts, and the Front cover from Drum magazine, Tanzania, 2012 festivals. She has exhibited internationally including at Centre Section 2 April 1966 particular emphasis on the ambivalent figure of the prophet Castor oil plants (Ricinus communis REF PERIODICALS/123 reproduced by Pompidou, Paris; Foundation Ricard, Paris; Glasgow Centre Untitled, Sisal weaving, 2015 'Zanzibarensis'), fast-growing Kinjiketile, explore the mutation and mythmaking inherent in kind permission of Drum Publications of Contemporary Art, Glasgow; Paris Photo, Paris; Bienal species native to Tanzania. Sound Installation oral history. The Cow Shed, short film Ltd. Courtesy of the Black Cultural According to oral history the plant Internacional de Arte Contemporáneo, Almería and the Art Kinjiketile Suite, 2015, six channel from Tanzania Year 16 Video Archives was one of the secret ingredients audio track, text written and Catalyst, London. Communications Project, 1971, that made up the sacred water In addition to the research-based material, a large collection Kanga fabric. A historical text narrated by Kapwani Kiwanga 42 min that Kinjiketile distributed to referenced the appearance of of castor oil plants (Ricinus Communis 'Zanzibarensisæ) Director Gerald Belkin, producer Paule his followers. Recent and upcoming exhibitions include Jeu de Paume, Kangas in costal trading shops is cultivated across the gallery space and will continue to Belkin and TY16 team. Courtesy the during the Maji Maji uprising. Paris; Berlin Ethnographic Museum, Berlin; The Swedish Belkin Estate Selection of articles from Drum grow throughout the duration of the exhibition. According to The fabric is adorned with an eye Contemporary Art Foundation, Stockholm; Galerie Marian magazine: April 1966, July 1966, accounts, this fast-growing species, native to Tanzania, was Time Magazine, 13 March 1964 motif and an inscription ‘macho May 1968 Goodman, Paris; Fondation Ricard, Paris; Salt, Istanbul; Irish ya Bokero’ meaning ‘Bokero’s one of the secret ingredients that made up the sacred water REF PERIODICALS/123 reproduced by Museum of Modern Art, Dublin and Tiwani Contemporary, eyes’, another title associated with kind permission of Drum Publications that Kinjiketile distributed to his followers. Nurtured by the the spiritual medium Kinjiketile. London, Tanja Wagner, Berlin. Ltd. Courtesy of the Black Cultural overlapping accounts and multiple narratives, the plants Courtesy NIDA Textiles Archives