• Three women artists presented a contemporary look at female identity
Image: KARI MUTU
An art exhibition by three women artists presents a contemporary look at female identity through diverse media and cultures. Dance To The Rhythm Of My Soul, a women-only group exhibition, is taking place at the Nairobi National Museum in the creativity gallery. The artists, Oh Myung Hee of South Korea, Prina Shah and Nadia Wamunyu of Kenya, each draw inspiration from their cultural roots and varied personal experiences.
Oh Myung Hee’s body of work reviews “femininity, freedom and desire” by delving into the roles of women in traditional South Korean society that was very patriarchal. Oh’s artwork for this exhibition focuses on the “gisaeng”, highly trained female musicians, poets and performing artists who entertained upper-class men in historic times.
Her beautiful large acrylics on canvas have black-and-white photos of gisaeng women surrounded by cherry blossoms and birds, in pastel and glistening colours. The postcard pictures were taken by a Japanese photographer during the Japanese occupation of South Korea, a significant historical period and supposedly when gisaeng began to be equated with prostitution.
Gisaeng women may be perceived as merely entertainers, but Oh aims to highlight the important contribution by these forgotten artists to South Korea’s cultural heritage for centuries. Alongside the gisaeng are pictures of married ladies from the same period, presenting the socially acceptable role expected of women then.
Other art pieces by Oh are the Ganggangsullae or Moondance series of large, painstakingly crafted circular wall panels. They are made from compressed wood, hemp cloth, earthy dust, lacquer and gold leaf. Their shimmery surfaces are inlaid with mother of pearl, an iridescent extract from the inner surface of oyster shells.
Only women attended the annual Moondance harvest festival, an opportunity for singing, dancing and freely expressing one’s deepest emotions. Besides walking down memory lane, Oh Myung Hee is inviting viewers to re-examine gender and identity, and to redress historical narratives about female professional artists. “It is a profound honour for me to showcase my work, inspired by the strong and resilient Korean women of the past,” the artist’s statement says.
NADIA WAMUNYU
Nadia Wamunyu’s Body of Evidence is a collection of monochrome illustrations painted in her signature media of coffee, ink, gold leaf and charcoal on watercolour paper. She typically draws African women performing dance or gymnastic movements. They are dressed in bleached white dance leotards, emphasising their strong, muscular bodies and deeply toned skin. Some of the women are pictured with golden aureoles around their heads.
Wamuyu’s subjects are different from the typical portrayal of black females, objectified or from a Western perspective. Her women perform in a free, confident and unrestrained manner that almost inspires envy for the lack of inhibition. Through her paintings, Wamunyu invites “viewers to witness the intricate choreography of my soul”.
In these powerful dancing figures, Wamunyu draws our attention to the insecurity and fragility faced by young black women, at the same time encouraging them to boldly celebrate the space they occupy. The art is also a study of herself, a half-Nubian and half-Kenyan woman who has faced partial hearing loss since childhood.
PRINA SHAH
Prina Shah’s installation, called Doorway to Memory, is based on the Hindu traditions of the seven chakras, energy centres inside the body. Her installation has seven differently sized spheres made of rolled papers that represent the Root, Sacral, Solar, Heart, Throat, Third Eye and Crown chakras.
The balls are suspended from the ceiling in descending order in front of a mirror, and each little scroll of paper is inscribed in ink with sayings in Swahili, English and Gujarati. Her art pieces are methodically created, accurately measured and precisely hung, quite different to the emotive work of Oh Myung Hee and Wamunyu’s strong women in motion.
Born in Kenya of Asian heritage, Shah has drawn upon personal memories, historical influences and cultural spirituality to create her pieces. Her installation encourages introspection and looking within to understand oneself and to reflect on spiritual truths. The mirror reinforces the message of self-knowledge and embracing our memories.
At the same time, her work examines dual identity, the environment and the cultural factors that shape one’s individuality.
Dance To The Rhythm Of My Soul is part of celebrations commemorating 60 years of diplomatic relations between Kenya and South Korea. The show is curated by the Metamorphosis Arts Project, which was co-founded by Tatiana Palinkasev, an international art curator formerly with Christie’s Auction House of London, and Eva McGaw, an arts entrepreneur and representative for Sotheby’s in the Middle East.
Palinkasev and McGaw interacted with the South Korean artist in 2022, when she exhibited at the Venice Biennale, the largest international art fair. Liaising with Lydia Galavu, contemporary art curator at the National Museums of Kenya, they conceived the idea of a group exhibition of cultural dialogue with Kenyan female artists.