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installation view of two beige paintings

Installation view, Kaloki Nyamai, Twe Vaa, James Cohan, 48 Walker Street, New York, NY, March 28 - May 4, 2024

Installation view, Kaloki Nyamai, Twe Vaa, James Cohan, 48 Walker Street, New York, NY, March 28 - May 4, 2024

Installation view, Kaloki Nyamai, Twe Vaa, James Cohan, 48 Walker Street, New York, NY, March 28 - May 4, 2024

installation view of several artworks in a long gallery

Kaloki Nyamai, Twe Vaa, James Cohan, 48 Walker Street, New York, NY, March 28 - May 4, 2024

Installation view, Kaloki Nyamai, Twe Vaa, James Cohan, 48 Walker Street, New York, NY, March 28 - May 4, 2024

Installation view, Kaloki Nyamai, Twe Vaa, James Cohan, 48 Walker Street, New York, NY, March 28 - May 4, 2024

Installation view, Kaloki Nyamai, Twe Vaa, James Cohan, 48 Walker Street, New York, NY, March 28 - May 4, 2024

Installation view, Kaloki Nyamai, Twe Vaa, James Cohan, 48 Walker Street, New York, NY, March 28 - May 4, 2024

Installation view, Kaloki Nyamai, Twe Vaa, James Cohan, 48 Walker Street, New York, NY, March 28 - May 4, 2024

Installation view, Kaloki Nyamai, Twe Vaa, James Cohan, 48 Walker Street, New York, NY, March 28 - May 4, 2024

person looking at a blue artwork

Installation view, Kaloki Nyamai, Twe Vaa, James Cohan, 48 Walker Street, New York, NY, March 28 - May 4, 2024

Image of KALOKI NYAMAI's Isyo kwo sya thela? I & II (Is the food over?), 2024

KALOKI NYAMAI
Isyo kwo sya thela? I & II (Is the food over?), 2024
Mixed media, acrylic, collage stitching on canvas
78 3/4 x 78 3/4 in. (each panel)
200 x 200 cm
Diptych

 

JCG16118

Image of KALOKI NYAMAI's Nduisa umbita I & II (You cannot call me), 2024

KALOKI NYAMAI

Nduisa umbita I & II (You cannot call me), 2024

Mixed media, acrylic, collage stitching on canvas

78 3/4 x 78 3/4 in. (each panel)
200 x 200 cm
Diptych

 

JCG16120

Image of KALOKI NYAMAI's Wi semba wendete ku? (Where are you running to?), 2024

KALOKI NYAMAI

Wi semba wendete ku? (Where are you running to?), 2024

Mixed media, acrylic, collage stitching on canvas

78 3/4 x 78 3/4 in.
200 x 200 cm

 

JCG16122

Image of KALOKI NYAMAI's Nilika kiwuni ona mwalea I (I will swim even if you refuse), 2024

KALOKI NYAMAI

Nilika kiwuni ona mwalea I (I will swim even if you refuse), 2024

Mixed media, acrylic, collage stitching on canvas

78 3/4 x 78 3/4 in.
200 x 200 cm

 

JCG16123

Image of KALOKI NYAMAI's Wenda kyao indi? (What is it that you want?), 2024

KALOKI NYAMAI

Wenda kyao indi? (What is it that you want?), 2024

Mixed media, acrylic, collage stitching on canvas

78 3/4 x 78 3/4 in.
200 x 200 cm

 

JCG16125

Image of KALOKI NYAMAI's Nikita ukuna njaro (I am here minding my business), 2024

KALOKI NYAMAI

Nikita ukuna njaro (I am here minding my business), 2024

Mixed media, acrylic, collage stitching on canvas

78 3/4 x 78 3/4 in.
200 x 200 cm

 

JCG16127

Image of KALOKI NYAMAI's Ula wosiee ngoo yakwa II (The one who stole my heart), 2024

KALOKI NYAMAI

Ula wosiee ngoo yakwa II (The one who stole my heart), 2024

Mixed media, acrylic, collage stitching on canvas

78 3/4 x 78 3/4 in.
200 x 200 cm

 

JCG16126

Image of KALOKI NYAMAI's Ithi nitwamina (We have finished), 2024

KALOKI NYAMAI

Ithi nitwamina (We have finished), 2024

Mixed media, acrylic, collage stitching on canvas

78 3/4 x 78 3/4 in.
200 x 200 cm

 

JCG16121

Press Release

James Cohan is pleased to present Twe Vaa, an exhibition of mixed media paintings by Kenyan artist Kaloki Nyamai, on view from March 28 through May 4, 2024, at 48 Walker Street. This marks the artist’s New York debut and first solo exhibition with the gallery. 

 

Twe Vaa means “We are here" in the artist’s ancestral language of Kikamba. The phrase signifies a declaration of presence, a reclamation of a collective agency. Nyamai questions where it is that society has landed in turbulent times. In the ten intricately layered paintings from Nyamai’s ongoing series Dining in Chaos, he draws inspiration from life in Nairobi, weaving collective memories that emerge and recede from legibility. His paintings are composites of multiple canvases and materials, literally stitching together the fabric of a community scarred by the legacy of colonization. 

 

In each work, Nyamai juxtaposes news accounts of political unrest with depictions of people at leisure, allowing multiple narratives to unfold simultaneously. He photo-transfers newsprint and images capturing pivotal and often violent moments in Kenyan history and other parts of Africa directly onto the surface of his paintings; binding the past and the present. These figures fade in and out of view, much like a memory, revealing themselves through layers of paper and paint.

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