Gallery MOMO at EXPO Chicago 2019

Gallery MOMO is proud to be a part of EXPO Chicago 2019, presenting new works by Stephané E. Conradie, Kimathi Donkor, and Salah Elmur.

Stephané E. Conradie (b. 1990, Namibia) creates ornate sculptures of entangled objects, inspired by home décor found in lower and working class homes in South Africa. Though seemingly only used for aesthetic purposes or seen as common place, Conradie suggests that they could provide an important lens through which to examine value placement and meaning-making. Her work examines the histories of colonialism and creolisation embedded in domestic material culture, calling into question how identity is encoded in the private domain. Creolisation directs our attention towards the cultural phenomena that result from displacement and the ongoing dynamic interchange of symbols and practices, eventually leading to new forms with varying degrees of stability. 

Stephané E. Conradie is a PhD candidate in Visual Arts and Lecturer in Printmaking at the University of Stellenbosch, South Africa. Her first major solo exhibition, Domestic Lives, Nomadic Belongings, took place in Cape Town in 2019. Conradie’s work has been featured both locally and globally, most recently at Stellenbosch University Museum, Cape Town Art Fair, and ARCO Lisbon. Conradie was a SASOL New Signatures Finalist and was included in Barclays L’Atelier National Exhibition, one of Africa’s most prestigious art competitions. Her work can be found in various collections, including the Leridon Collection, Yellowwoods Art, UNISA Gallery, Spier Collection, and the Wits Art Museum. 

Kimathi Donkor (b. 1965, United Kingdom) re-imagines mythic and legendary encounters across Africa and its global Diasporas, principally in painting, but also through drawing, video, assemblage, collage, digital design, performance and installation. Large paintings address historic figures like Toussaint L’Ouverture and Harriet Tubman, as well as contemporary themes such as urban political dissent or the pursuit of leisure, beauty and knowledge.

Born in Bournemouth, England, Kimathi Donkor is of Ghanaian, Anglo-Jewish and Jamaican family heritage, and as a child lived in rural Zambia and the English west country. Dr. Donkor earned his Ph.D. at Chelsea College of Arts in 2016. He also holds an MA degree from Camberwell College of Art and a BA (Hons) in Fine Art from Goldsmiths College. Currently, he is Associate Lecturer and Acting Senior Lecturer on BAFA and MFA courses at Chelsea, Wimbledon Camberwell and Central Saint Martins, University of the Arts, London, UK. Work by Kimathi Donkor is held in private and public collections internationally and in the UK, including at The Wolverhampton Art Gallery, the International Slavery Museum and the Sindika Dokolo Foundation

Salah Elmur (b. 1966, Sudan) creates work composed from a fertile visual vocabulary that draws on his observations of life, returning to childhood and youth for the scenes, situations, and impressions that he depicts in his work. Sudanese culture occupies a central role in his practice – particularly the geographical disparity between the different regions and the multiplicity of peoples that constitute the general fabric of society. Ritual and totemic, Elmur's works are wrought with narratives both nostalgic and surreal. Influenced by Sudan—its fashion, architecture, colour, and energy—Elmur's figures maintain a human edge, characters of rich communities and interior lives. 

Salah Elmur is a painter, filmmaker, photographer, and illustrator. His works can be found in public and private collections in Africa, the Middle East, Europe and North America, including The Museum of African Contemporary Art Al Maaden (MACAAL), The Sharjah Art Museum and the Sharjah Art Foundation (SAF). His paintings have been exhibited in Egypt, the UAE, Sudan, Syria, Jordan, France, Washington D.C., Uganda, and Kenya among other locations. His work has even been shown in a group exhibition at the British National Museum in London, a rare honor for a contemporary artist from Sudan. He has also published 12 children’s books which have been translated into many languages and is a successful filmmaker, directing six short documentaries and fantasy films which have been shown at international film festivals. In February 2018, the Sharjah Art Museum in the UAE held a retrospective of Elmur’s work over the past three decades.

EXPO Chicago 2019

Vernissage: 19 September
Public Days: 20 to 22 September

Booth 363
Navy Pier Festival Hall
Chicago, Illinois, USA