Season 3, Episode 8: Curing Our Bodies
Season 3, Episode 7: Curing Our Bodies
In this episode edna bonhomme is in conversation with artist and writer Grace Ndiritu. Ndiritu has been engaged in “The Year of Black Healing” which is an artistic response to President Macron’s declaration that 2020 is the year of Africa in the entire French territory. In order to counterbalance the co-opting of Black Culture by politicians to promote their own agendas, Grace Ndiritu has declared that 2020 is in fact The Year of Black Healing. A year-long program of exhibitions, performances, and talks in collaboration with different institutions, focusing on Ndiritu’s work and its relation to decolonization, spiritual practice, black and indigenous culture, neoliberalism and racism #georgefloyd.
The conversation was originally recorded for HAU Radical Mutation: On the Ruins of Rising Suns which was curated by Nathalie Anguezomo Mba Bikoro, Saskia Köbschall, Tmnit Zere, in collaboration with Wearebornfree! Empowerment Radio.
Transcriptions for all episodes are available upon request.
Grace Ndiritu
Link: Website
Grace Ndiritu
Grace Ndiritu is a British-Kenyan artist whose artworks are concerned with the transformation of our contemporary world. Her work has been featured in TIME Magazine, Phaidon: The 21st Century Art Book (2014), Art Monthly and Apollo Magazine 40 under 40 list, Elephant Magazine and The Sunday Times Radio show with Mariella Frostrup. Her work is also housed in museum collections such as The British Council, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, Modern Art Museum, Warsaw and private collections such as the King Mohammed VI, Morocco and Walther Collection, New York and Germany. Her experimental art writing and images have been published by Whitechapel Gallery: Documents of Contemporary Art, The Paris Review, Le Journal Laboratoires d'Aubervilliers, Animal Shelter Journal Semiotext(e) MIT Press, Metropolis M art magazine and Oxford University Press.
Her archive of over forty 'hand-crafted' videos; experimental photography, Post-Hippie Pop-Abstraction collages and shamanic performances have been widely exhibited. Recent solo performances and screenings include S.M.A.K. & M.S.K., Belgium (2019), Africa Museum, Tervuren, Belgium (2019), Fundació Antoni Tàpies, Barcelona (2017), Laboratoires d'Aubervilliers, Paris (2016), Glasgow School of Art (2015), Galveston Artists Residency, Texas (2015), Museum Modern of Art, Warsaw (2014), Musee Chasse & Nature and Centre Pompidou, Paris (2013), ICA Artist Film Survey, London (2011), Artprojx at Prince Charles Cinema London (2009). Recent solo exhibitions include, Bluecoat, Liverpool (2019), Glasgow School of Art (2015), La Ira De Dios, Buenos Aires (2014), Chisenhale Gallery, London (2007), the 51st Venice Biennale (2005) and Ikon Gallery, Birmingham (2005).
Recent group shows include Museum Arnhem, Netherlands (2020), Fondazione Sandretto Re Rebaudengo, Torino (2020), Freelands Foundation, London (2019) Eastside Projects, Birmingham (2018), Bluecoat Gallery, Liverpool (2017), CAMH, Houston Texas (2015), MAC International Art Prize, Belfast (2014), 9th Bamako Biennale (2011), International Center of Photography, New York (2009), 8th Dakar Biennale (2008). Her work has been commissioned by Lubumbashi Biennale (2019), CAG Vancouver (2018), Glasgow School of Art (2015), MACBA, Barcelona (2014), Bluecoat Gallery, Liverpool (2010) and Glynn Vivian Gallery, Wales (2006).
Grace Ndiritu studied Textile Art at Winchester School of Art, UK; De Ateliers, Amsterdam: guest tutors included Marlene Dumas (painter), Steve McQueen (film director), Tacita Dean (artist) and Stan Douglas (artist); UK studio residency, Delfina Studio Trust, London (2004-2006), International Residency, Recollets, Paris (2013), MACBA & L'Appartement 22, Rabat, international residency (2014), Galveston Artists Residency, Texas (2014 -2015), Laboratoires d'Aubervilliers, Paris (2016-2017), Thalie Art Foundation, Brussels (2017-2018).
Show Credits
Interview and Post-production
edna bonhomme
Images
Profile Photograph: Courtesy of Grace Ndiritu
music
All other music is from Freesounds.org (Creative Commons)
Thank You
A special thanks to Grace Ndiritu and to the Max Planck Institute for the History of Science.