Not Black or White - a colourful new exhibition at SoShiro Gallery London featuring over 60 works from Africa and the UK

^{Above image - Let There Be Calm by Lesego Seoketsa, South Africa}

NOT BLACK OR WHITE is a new contemporary art, craft and design exhibition at SoShiro Gallery in Marylebone, London, featuring a collective of creatives from Africa and the UK who have reimagined the traditional use of colour and material.

These creatives are visual story tellers who have looked to their heritage, the natural environment, and personal narratives to activate their remarkable skills, exploration work and creativity. There is a sense of raw storytelling and palpable emotion that can be felt from the pieces they have created.

On show will be paintings, textiles, sculptures and design pieces in glass, metal, and wood – a total of over 60 works created in London, South Africa, Burkina Faso, the Ivory Coast, and other African countries.

The show will run alongside a lively program of performances, talks and salons featuring some of the artists for a dynamic shared experience of the show.

Kenyan-born gallery owner Shiro Muchiri said, "Not Black or White is a show that brings together artists and craftsmanship of courage and thoughtfulness. The works on show are a testament to the many global, community and individual human aspects that need to be learnt, supported, and celebrated.

The show demonstrates the power of contemporary art taking on the challenge and doing its part to help us visualise different and endless colours, making us more aware of the world we live in, the injustices that exist, the need for the love we give, and the need to preserve our heritage and the stunning natural environment that surrounds us - to realise that it’s all in the colours."

The Exhibition is free to attend but visitors must book a time slot by email at hello@soshiro.co

Opening hours:

Monday to Saturday: 10 am to 6 pm

Outside hours: email your request to hello@soshiro.co

Artists include:-

Nene Mahlangu, South Africa

^{Above left – Nene Mahlangu}

^{Above right image - Gotta have it all by Nene Mahlangu, South Africa}

Colour has been used to articulate identity and justice equality by South African artist, Nene Mahlangu. Nene is a multi-disciplinary artist whose achievements include designing two South African currency coins which for the first time were graced with an image of a black girl’s face in 2019. Nene has used bold tropical colours inspired by nature, foliage, flowers, and birds. She has blended the human figures in her paintings with nature through clever use of colour, texture, and shadows, even the creases that appear in the detail of the leaves, garments, or the human skin, are depicted to be in complete material harmony.

Nene’s work is about her community of black girls in South Africa, and her mission is to educate and to liberate them from the current cultural perceptions. Her message is that we are all equal whilst in our natural environment and amongst our communities; and we should also be all equal in the eyes of the justice system.

Nthabiseng Boledi Kekana, South Africa

^{Above right – Nthabiseng Boledi Kekana}

^{Above left image – Four Women by Nene Mahlangu, South Africa}

Nthabiseng Boledi Kekana is a young and exciting mixed media artist from South Africa. She has dedicated her work and creativity towards championing inclusivity, exploring what that means both to her community and in the world today. Nthabiseng uses acrylic, charcoal, and pastels to visualize the world through her lens.

Lesego Seoketsa, South Africa

^{Above left – Lesego Seokatsa}

^{Above right image – Let there be calm by Lesego Seokatsa, South Africa}

Lesego Seoketsa has used stark contrasts in colour to respond to a new environment, the South of France, where the brightness of the skies, flowers and the calmness of the sea intrigued her to imagine how South African women from her community would embrace such an environment. An environment where women take up different roles in society from those of her native South Africa. Lesego questions what ideologies like feminism mean to black women in a post-modern society. Her work interrogates what a post-modern society should mean when it comes to equality, liberation, and identity.

Lesego says, "Through my artistic work and practice, I engage my own critical thinking on postmodernist theory, and what living in a postmodernist world really means for equality and liberation among Africans, particularly Black women. I consider feminism, Black liberation and identity, as I make work that directly addresses those themes, both from a theoretical perspective and a deeply personal one too. To break from modernism, postmodernist theory deconstructed traditional ideals of gender and racial identity, but what actually happened in practice? Black voices, especially those residing in Africa, are often excluded from conversations about social progress and equality. As a feminist, I need to explore and question how Black women in Africa fit into the global feminist movement."

Chris Day, United Kingdom

^{Above left – Chris Day}

^{Above right image – Under the Influence V by Chris Day, United Kingdom. Courtesy of Vessel Gallery}

Chris Day creates personal works in glass and has explored bright colours in his most recent body of work. His focus is on the subject of how black people are treated in the UK and the US. Chris unearths historical cases that are relevant and educative to engage others on issues that are hard to confront. He utilizes skills learnt from his previous work as a plumber and uses copper to signify restriction and wraps it around glass. The glass signifies the human spirit that remains captured by the copper pipes and wires, struggling to break free and be liberated. Chris has found a way to use art to overcome trauma and racial inequality.

Cathryn Shilling, United Kingdom

^{Above right – Cathryn Shilling}

^{Above left image – ‘Are’ by Cathryn Shilling, United Kingdom. Courtesy of Vessel Gallery}

Cathryn Shilling looks to the natural world to explore sculpture and shape. Cathryn loves to experiment with colour and technique. Her woven glass sculptures, which emulate the softness and flawlessness of woven fabric are captivating to see, showcasing the depth of understanding and the skill she has accumulated through her experimental work in general and with glass as a material. Her sculptures are beautifully imposing and large in scale. Cathryn’s colour palette is influenced by the natural states of water – such as icebergs, waterfalls, and whirlpools. She is an exciting, accomplished artist who continues to explore and push boundaries with her work.

Shilling began her arts career as a graphic designer but went on to study glass after moving to Connecticut with her family. On returning to the UK she studied kiln formed glass at Kensington and Chelsea College and blown glass with Peter Layton at the London Glassblowing Workshop. She set up her studio in London in 2007 from where she has gone on to create a huge body and variety of work.

Maison Intègre, Burkina Faso

Ambre jarno

Maison_integre_WEB_0050-2

^{Above left – Ambre Jarno}

^{Above right image – Echo Lamp designed by Brendan Ravenhill. Made by Maison Intègre in Burkina Faso}

A celebration of West African culture, Maison Intègre was founded by Ambre Jarno whose desire was to bridge African craft with the design world. Her passion for craft led her to learn about the various craft communities in Burkina Faso, from the Senufo and Mossi arts, Ambre fell in love with the craft skills she found and wanted to share these treasured findings with the rest of the world. She later on identified bronze making skills to be at risk of extinction and assembled the leading bronzesmiths she could find into one workshop. Today there are 15 bronzesmiths who create precious collectibles for discerning clients from all over the world. The workshops create limited edition pieces and undertake all the production processes from the creation of the moulds, extracting the wax, pouring the molten bronze, welding, to all polishing techniques required – from the raw material to the finished products.

Abrie Von Wieligh and Norman Meyer, South Africa

^{Above right – Abrie Von Wieligh and Norman Meyer}

^{Above left image – Praying Mantis, Side table designed by Meyer Von Wieligh, South Africa}

Abrie Von Wieligh and Norman Meyer are South African furniture designers and makers, and through their work, tell stories of trees, stories of nature, and keep alive traditional wood craft techniques. The pieces they create are mostly delicate in structure and have sinuous poetic shapes that would suit any contemporary environment. One of their many exciting pieces symbolizes the crests formed by ocean waves off the South African coasts.

Jean Servais Somian, Ivory Coast

^{Above left – Jean Servais Somian}

^{Above right image – Womni, by Jean Servais Somian, Ivory Coast}

Jean Servais Somian is a sculptor and artist from Côte d’Ivoire with a base in Paris. He loves to work with the precious woods of Africa which include coconut palm, ebony and amazaque. He has a deep respect for nature and has drawn his colour influences from Mondrian, creating beautiful contrasts of colour tastefully merged with natural wood. Somian creates functional design pieces that are also admirable sculptural pieces in their own right.

SoShiro

SoShiro is an art, craft and design gallery encompassing five floors of a beautiful Georgian townhouse in Marylebone, London, which officially opened its doors in September 2020. The gallery is a 360-degree cultural hub that not only produces, curates and showcases collections inspired by global cultures but also acts as a creative incubator and event space. The new gallery is the brainchild of Shiro Muchiri; a Kenyan-born, Italian-trained interior architect, designer, curator, and tastemaker. Today, Muchiri oversees the curation of SoShiro’s collectible artefacts and collaborates with artists and designers all over the world to create special pieces exclusive to SoShiro. 

Shiro Muchiri

Beginning her career in her native city of Nairobi, Shiro Muchiri immersed herself in the bustling environment of a successful design studio before traveling to Milan to formally train in design. In 2002, Muchiri launched Interni Design Studio, where, as an interior architect, she led a team in London designing residential and workspace environments for exacting, international clients. While working on her own collection of furniture and accessories, she became passionate about the process of making and how craftsmanship, design and art have the power to communicate heritage. Muchiri set out to provide a space where contemporary designers and artists can share their local, traditional stories. 

For further information contact Friends & Co

Patricia Gill – patricia@friendsandco.co.uk

Belinda Fisher – belinda@friendsandco.co.uk

SoShiro 

23 Welbeck Street 

London W1G 8DZ 

www.soshiro.co

@soshiro.co

office@soshiro.co