KABBO KA MUWALA—THE GIRL’S BASKET: contemporary artistic perspectives on African migration. With the participation of Kiluanji Kia Henda, Helen Zeru (DAI, 2017) and others.
Migration and Mobility in Contemporary Art in Southern and Eastern Africa
KABBO KA MUWALA - The Girl’s Basket
presents works by 20 artists reflecting on narratives of migration.
The exhibition “Kabbo ka Muwala”, conceived as an itinerant project taking place in Zimbabwe, Uganda and Germany, artistically explores perspectives on the multitude of migration processes in and from southern and eastern Africa primarily through the eyes of artists from these regions. A wide range of media, including photo works, videos, mixed media, and installations will propose alternative reflections to clichéd representations of a mass exodus to the Global North.
The title of the exhibition is an idiom in Luganda, a widely spoken language in central Uganda. The expression refers to a tradition known throughout East Africa in which a bride transports presents in a basket to her new family and her parents in turn. Metaphorically the basket represents expectations and hopes, but also disappointments and setbacks, which come with marriage and also with processes of migration.
In reversing the usual pattern, where exhibitions are first shown in Europe and only then travel to Africa, “Kabbo ka Muwala” will begin at two traditional exhibition venues in Zimbabwe and Uganda before arriving at the port city of Bremen. Each venue will feature a core of traveling works complemented by displays and exhibits that make reference to the respective region. The exhibition and accompanying programme also aim at emerging artists, activists and grassroots organisations, universities and schools.
The accompanying illustrated catalogue includes essays by the curatorial and the scholarly team, as well as by Gerald Machona, Kiluanji Kia Henda, Rosemary Jaji, and Yordanos Seifu Estifanos, linking scholarship in cultural studies and social sciences with artists’ perspectives.
Participating artists: Berry Bickle (ZW), Jodi Bieber (ZA), The Border Farm Project (ZW/ZA), Rehema Chachage (TZ), Mimi Cherono Ng’ok (KE), Kudzanai Chiurai (ZW), Anawana Haloba (ZM/NO), Kiluanji Kia Henda (AO), Wanja Kimani (KE/ET/UK), Miriam Syowia Kiambi (KE), Gerald Machona (ZW/ZA), Immy Mali (UG), Nástio Mosquito (AO), Victor Mutelekesha (ZM/NO), MwangwiHutter (DE/KE), NakivArt/Anke Fischer (UG/DE), Emma Wolukau-Wanambwa (UG/UK), Xenson (UG), Helen Zeru (ET), Rut Karin Zettergren (SE)
Curators: Raphael Chikukwa (National Gallery of Zimbabwe), Katrin Peters-Klaphake (Makerere Art Gallery) and Dr. Ingmar Lähnemann (Städtische Galerie Bremen)
Assistant Curator: Anna Kućma (Makerere Art Gallery)
Project coordination: Dr. Lydia Potts and Dr. Katharina Hoffmann (EMMIR, European Master in Migration and Intercultural Relations & ZFG, Centre for Interdisciplinary Research on Women and Gender at Carl von Ossietzky University Oldenburg, Germany)
The exhibition “Kabbo ka Muwala” is based on the collaboration between Carl von University Oldenburg, National Gallery of Zimbabwe in Harare, Makerere University in Kampala, and Städtische Galerie Bremen, and is funded by the TURN Fund of the German Federal Cultural Foundation.