Gerald Chukwuma

In its size and vibrancy, Chukwuma’s work transports. The sheer, painstaking physicality – of building, cutting, nailing, burning, chiselling, and painting – generates energy. The spiralling figures draw the viewer into their dance, flashes of colour elevate. Accurately, Chukwuma describes his work as a visual orchestra; the mix of woods like a series of bass tones, the use of fire to bring out the black, nails hinting at percussion, playing on pieces from aluminium cans and phone cards – “beautiful, durable, and colourful”, they form the melody.

The result is best described as a force of nature. These works were made over a period of months in three separate locations: the streets of Lagos (to discover the discarded objects that will find new life as works of art); the workshop (to build); and the studio (to finish). It is not the physical nature of the works which dictates the pace of their creation, however, but the difficulty of maintaining the necessary creative energy.

“The Ikwokirikwo is a form of communication – culture, religion, ritual and invocation rolled into one. I spent many hours talking to dancers who are in their eighties and nineties now; for them, it’s dance as a bridge to the ecstatic.”

“To make these works, I had to go where the dancers go when they dance, to enter that same state of elevated consciousness. During all the time I spent with them, I never saw a single written document; but it’s hard to imagine how words would capture it – a quality that certain very specific movements of the body have acquired over centuries – but art has that power. To perform what the spirit feels – to invoke what the dancers invoke.”

Rufai Zakari (b.1990) is based between Accra and Bawku, Ghana. He completed his apprenticeship under Mozzay, a senior artist in Nima, Accra. In 2011, Rufai Zakari graduated from the Ghanatta College of Art and Design. In his work, Zakari examines consumerism, environmental pollution, labour, trade, and the perils of industrialization in contemporary Ghanian Society. The founder of Rujab Eco-Art Foundation in his hometown of Bawku, Zakari bases his practise on the recycling of waste in the streets of Ghana. After decades of tribal conflict which took countless lives and left the city in ruins, Zakari is now looking to the future with optimism and a strong ambition to rebuild what has been lost, while inspiring hope in his community.

Solo exhibitions include (Upcoming) Kristin Hjellegjerde Gallery, Berlin (2022); Gallery T293, Rome (2022); A New Dawn, Kristin Hjellegjerde Gallery, London (2021).

Group exhibitions include (Upcoming) The Armory Show, The Breeder Gallery, New York (2022); Intersecting Identities, Arushi, USA (2022); Global Positioning, Public Art Fund, New York, Boston and Chicago (2022); Entre-acte, Selebe Yoon, Dakar, Senegal (2021); More is More: Visual Richness in Contemporary Art, Akron Art Museum, US (2021); 1-54 Contemporary African Art Fair, London (2021); Devil’s in the Detail, Kristin Hjellegjerde Gallery, London (2020); This Exhibition is Untitled, Nubuke Foundation, Accra (2020); "CirculArt" Sustainable Art Exhibition by Eco Reward, Casa Trasacco Accra (2019); World Behind the Horizon, Gess Gallery, Dusseldorf (2019); Sustainable Art Workshop, Merck Foundation, Dubai (2019); Sustainable Art Workshop, British High Commission, Accra (2018); Violence Against Women Exhibition, Alliance Francaise Accra (2018); "Yoomo Be Ga" Recycle Art Exhibition, Museum of Science and Technology, Accra (2017); Ghana Netherland Cultural Week Exhibition, Accra (2016); "African Champions" Mural in collaboration with (You Are For Africa), Lagos (2015).

Highlights and collections: Rufai Zakari’s work is held in important private and public collections including Arthur Lewis Collection (US); Easton Capital/John Friedman Collection (US); Nubuke Foundation, (Ghana); The Beth Rudin Dewoody Collection (US); The Ditau Collection (South Africa); Susan Goodman Collection; VG Collection; Akron Museum Collection (US); JOM Collection (Senegal); AMMA foundation (Mexico); The Africa Centre Collection, London, (UK).

This website uses cookies
This site uses cookies to help make it more useful to you. Please contact us to find out more about our Cookie Policy.

* denotes required fields

We will process the personal data you have supplied in accordance with our privacy policy (available on request). You can unsubscribe or change your preferences at any time by clicking the link in our emails.

GERALD CHUKWUMA - IKWOKIRIKWO: THE DANCE OF SPIRITS

Gerald Chukwuma

IKWOKIRIKWO: THE DANCE OF SPIRITS

Enquire

Rufai Zakari

Cookie preferences

Viewing Room

Please check your email