On view: Tuli Mekondjo
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On View: Tuli Mekondjo: Afrotekismo
These days, it's hot everywhere. But if you can drag yourself to the far western point of Chelsea and watch Tuli Mekondjo's video work, you should do it.
Mekondjo is a Namibian multi-media artist, and this show presents a sample of her recent video and textile pieces. Videos, shot in crisp black and white, engage with both contemporary Namibian life and the country's colonial past—particularly elements of Christian religious conversion, started by the Germans and Scandinavians over 200 years ago. One piece I fixated on was Kalunga Ka Nangobe / God of Nangobe, a video just under four minutes, which is primarily shown in split-screen. On the left, an Aawambo healer moves through a rural landscape, performing a ritual. On the right, a nun, inside a wooden church, similarly moves through a ritual, though we understand it is a different god she’s seeking. Both women are played by the artist. Maybe it's a reference to or extension of "double consciousness," maybe it's an exercise in playing out alternate timelines; either way, the rhythmic voiceover emphasizes the ceremony in both.
Also on display are colorful, textured crocheted bodices, with their strings dripping down to the floor. A small gathering of Mekondjo's prolific work (she is also a painter, embroiderer, and photographer), Afrotekismo is on view through August 1.
—Alexandra
also on view in the city:
Mark Rothko and Adolph Gottlieb, Gottlieb/Rothko: The Realist Years, at 125 Newbury. Through July 25.
Small Format Painting, at 56 Henry. Through August 1.
Rosemarie Trockel, The Kiss, at Gladstone. Through August 1.
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