Shabu Mwangi (Kenyan, b. 1985)
Lives and works in Nairobi
Shabu Mwangi‘s practice focuses on the effects of structural and historical violence and forms of marginalization on individual and collective psyches. Living and working in Mukuru, an informal settlement in Nairobi where he established the Wajukuu Art Project in 2004, Mwangi’s mixed media compositions are powerful expressions of societal and cultural fissures. His most recent work traces an ongoing personal journey of striving to understand the everchanging balance between the driving forces of love and pain. Here, Mwangi has turned his gaze inwards, asking himself questions about how he sees the people around him and reflecting on his interactions with them.
In 2022 Mwangi and fellow members of the Wajukuu Art Project participated in Documenta 15 in Kassel, where they went on to win the Arnold Bode prize. Mwangi participated in the 13a Biennial do Mercosul in Brazil, 2022. Recent solo and group exhibitions include: Self Addressed, curated by Kehinde Wiley for Deitch Gallery, Los Angeles, 2023; Systems to Emptiness, a prelude to Documenta 15, 2022; A Never Ending Longing, Circle Art Gallery, Cromwell Place, London, 2022; The Sources of Our Seas, Circle Art Gallery, 2021; East African Encounters, Cromwell Place, London, 2021. Other shows include: The Man with Two Shadows, Circle Art Gallery online, 2020; Yawning for Power, Tilleard Projects, 2019; The Stateless,Circle Art Gallery, 2018; Freedom, Flight, Refuge, Circle Art Gallery, 2017; Art Transposition Nairobi-Kampala-Hamburg, LKB Gallery, Hamburg; Pop-Up Africa, GAFRA, London, 2017; Out of the Slum, Essen, 2012. Mwangi has participated in residency programs in Kenya, Germany and Italy. He received an honourable mention in the 2023 Access ArtX Prize.