The tension between historical trauma and the hope for regeneration is both unsettling and undeniably urgent in Kaloki Nyamai’s latest exhibition Ithokoo masuiluni. At the Norval Foundation, this visceral series confronts us with the undeniable presence of resistance, not as a distant event but as a living, breathing reality. Beyond comfort, the work offers a challenge to engage, reflect, and understand that resistance, in its most honest form, is never linear.
Suspended in the air, the three works in Kaloki Nyamai’s latest exhibition, Ithokoo masuiluni, display form a powerful triad, each delving into the texture of protest through dense crowds of people—figures suspended in motion that evoke both the urgency of their collective action and the suffocating sense of being overwhelmed. While rooted in personal memory, the work takes on an interrogative quality, challenging the viewer to engage with complex and uncomfortable truths.
The paintings create a space for dialogue, urging us to sit with the discomfort of these histories, but also to imagine what lies beyond the chaos. The collective yearning for renewal is palpable in these works, yet it is never fully realized. Instead, Nyamai leaves us with an open question: can the violence of the past be transformed into something more hopeful, or do we continue to be defined by it?