a diversity gallery.
The vision of the gallery is to promote diversity in emerging art that is distinctive due to its social, cultural, gender or identity components, as well as with extraordinary techniques and artistic expression, so as to raise awareness, and engage and inspire all those who love, enjoy or create art.
Crossroads
emerging art in Africa
9-2 TO 30-4 | REKU ART Gallery
Phumulani Ntuli (Soweto, South Africa, 1986), Nii Anyetei Ras (Acra, Ghana, 1989), Yola Balanga (Luanda, Angola, 1994) and Adeniyi Damilola (Lagos, Nigeria, 1989) are the names of the four guest artists who will exhibit from February 9 to May 12 at Reku Art, section integrated into ARVIVID
EXHIBITED ARTISTS
ARTIST
Adeniyi Damilola
Adeniyi describes his works as “Afro-surreal”, paintings through which he explores the different personalities that all human beings have which make us unique as people. In turn, he praises his people for having fun with traditional Yoruba games, such as seen in Tinko Tinko, as well as interacting or simply being children without the technological pressures of the modern day.
ARTIST
Phumulani Ntuli
Phumulani Ntuli’s works are figurative representations where the reality and the imagination are mixed and blurred. The theme of this series is around duality – inner vs outer world, the surfice vs. what lies beneath, and the brain vs. the body. Through mixed media and collage, Ntuli places us in front of characters full of color, but at the same time mysterious, which requires our imagination to complement what we see. The fantasy in the surroundings, the mix between reality and fiction is one of the characteristics in Ntuli’s work, and it could be seen in the South African Pavilion at the last Venice Biennale.
ARTIST
Nii Anyetei Ras
In the words of the artist, “This series and its merits benefit not only collectors, but also my community of origin and the world as a whole through waste management” 85% of the materials used are from plastic waste. Nii states that his vision in creating these pieces is to do his best to change the world in his stream of life; art.
Até ao Fim
ARTIST
Yola Balanga
This series mentions the daily struggles that women face during motherhood. The machete, present in her hands in all the photos, symbolizes the colonial revolution in her country. They say that the colonizers were defeated with machetes. The titles of her work are inspired by the iconic phrases of political speeches. Yola Balanga wants to approach loneliness in maternity as an individual state of war; being with a machete while breastfeeding her daughter or her presence in collective places like the kitchen, beside the dining room table, trying to convey to the observer the constant state of a mother/woman.
Até ao Fim
GUEST CURATOR
Semíramis González
Semíramis González (Gijon, 1988) is an independent curator with a degree in Art History from the University of Oviedo and a Master’s Degree in Contemporary Art History and Visual Culture from the Complutense University in collaboration with the Reina Sofia Museum.
She is currently the curator of “Vision y Presencia”, a cycle of performances by women artists at the Museo Nacional Thyssen-Bornemisza, as well as the artistic director of the Cultural Agenda of the Women’s Institute.
Between 2018-2022 she was the director of the JUSTMAD (Madrid) and JUSTLX (Lisbon) fairs.
With plenty of curational experience, her past projects include “Futuro Presente” at the Amadís Room (Madrid); the collective “Against the skin” (on the visibility of the violence suffered based on gender, sexual orientation, and race) in the Area 60 space of the TEA (Tenerife); “Wrong is not my name. Art against sexist violence” at LABoral Centro de Arte (Gijón), a group show with international artists on the violence that women suffer; “A shout out” by the artist Julia Galán at the MUVIM (Valencia); or “El árbol de la rabia” at the EACC in Castellón on feminism with Spanish and international artists.
She has been the academic secretary of the “VII Meeting of collecting, contemporary art and society” (2019) held at the UIMP in Santander, under the direction of Isabel Durán (President of the Institute of Contemporary Art – IAC) and Jaime Sordo ( President of the Association of Private Collectors of Contemporary Art, 9915).
González is currently a teacher for the Master’s Degree in Contemporary Photography and Personal Projects at the EFTI school, the PHotoESPAÑA Master’s Degree in Photographic Projects, as well as the Master’s Degree in Art Business at CEU San Pablo University.
She has written for various media, including El Plural, Huffington Post, and La Nueva España.
Achievements
2019 Jury member for the National Photography Award, awarded that year to the artist Montserrat Soto.
2021 Fetico Aequalitas Award for effective equality between women and men.
Museums & Institutions
She has worked with museums and institutions such as Es Baluard Museu (Palma de Mallorca), PHotoEspaña Festival, SCAN Tarragona (International Photography Festival), the Atlantic Center of Modern Art – CAAM of Gran Canaria, FIEBRE Photobook, the IAACC Pablo Serrano (Zaragoza ), or the Alcobendas Art Center, among many others.
Copyright © 2023 © Reku Art by ARVIVID S.L. 2022. Any total or partial reproduction is prohibited. All rights reserved.