2020-21 | New Liberia and other Projects

'New Liberia and other Projects'

Knowledge Exchange Fellow:
Dr Samson Kambalu   |   Ruskin School of Art  |   University of Oxford

Partner Organisation:
Modern Art Oxford

New Liberia is a solo show with Modern Art Oxford in June 2021 which will explore ideas of film and praxis with a focus on the problematic of the gift and its relationship to art. The show will be based on John Ruskin's ideas of art as socialised praxis and aspects of the life of the little known but critical Malawian pan-Africanist John Chilembwe (1871-1915). Chilembwe's performative strategies for resistance against colonial rule will be re-purposed in the artist’s work as a means of escaping reification and the constraints of everyday life as an immigrant African British citizen. The exhibition will be in diverse media from video and painting to installation and sculpture. The solo show will include seminars and events involving students from the Ruskin School of Art, Oxford University and members of the public. New Liberia will be anticipated by other projects in spring including a solo show at Culturgest Lisbon, where the artist will explore aspects of the trade union activities of the Malawian Clements Kadalie, the first Black trade unionist in South Africa, in the early 20th century.