Museum in Motion - Otobong Nkanga
Event
M HKA, Antwerp
16 September 2022 - 08 January 2023
Otobong Nkanga
Throughout a multifaceted artistic practice incorporating drawings, performances, sculptures, tapestries and voice, among other forms, Otobong Nkanga has presented active proposals for thinking about some of the most pressing problems of our time. Central to her work are the relationships and exploitations that exist between the natural landscape, people and labour under the conditions of globalisation and capitalism. Nkanga’s practice offers an urgent reflection on the stark contrast between the plundering of natural resources and the destruction of the landscape, and the ‘gloss’ and luxury of the things we desire and consume. Her works possess material qualities that evoke minerals and plants, along with a distinct poetics. Together, they demand a reconnection of the body and mind with the natural world.
An internationally prolific artist, Nkanga has lived and worked in Antwerp for many years. Her first solo institutional exhibition in Belgium, entitled Bruises and Lustre, was held at M HKA in 2015. In 2017, she was the recipient of the Belgian Art Prize, and in 2018 a recipient of the Flemish Cultural Award for Visual Arts. Her work was a key presence at the 58th Venice Biennale in 2019, for which she received a Special Mention Award.
