Feni Chulumanco, Franklyn Dzingai, Sethembile Msezane, Katlego Tlabela, Ikeorah Chisom Chi-FADA

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Friday, April 12th - Sunday, April 14th, 2024

Allianz MiCo, viale Scarampo, Milan

Established, Hall3 | Booth A12 - A14

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The miart 2024 exhibition project stems from the intention to create a multidisciplinary dialogue between the artistic production of African artists Feni Chulumanco, Franklyn Dzingai, Sethembile Msezaneand, KatlegoTlabela, Ikeorah Chisom Chi-FADA and interior design. Home is indeed the space within which we move and that we try to shape in our image and likeness, a reflection of its inhabitants that tells and keeps a lot of their personality. In contemporary art too, the recent historical experience of the pandemic has contributed to find a new awareness in the domestic space, living it either as a physical or a mental space, sometimes even turning it into a political manifesto. The selected artists turn the domestic space into actual subject exactly like the human presence, sparking neorealistic, metaphysical and conceptual narratives. The selected works, produced specifically for miart, aim at ideally recreate a domestic setting within the Osart Gallery's booth, balancing the presence of paintings with installations. The works of Sethembile Msezane are in fact hybrids of colonial-style pieces of furniture (mantelpieces, mirrors, headboards) combined with photographic elements, contrasting with Feni Chulumanco's highly texturized rugs and cozy domestic descriptions; the tableaux-vivants of black-owned, lavish environments depicted by Katlego Tlabela, which restore a visually-striking historical overturn; the dreamlike narratives scapes of Ikeorah Chisom Chi-FADA, whose crystallized atmospheres are capable of directly affecting the viewer and reach their deepest emotions; and finally the retro-style, pop interiors created by Franklyn Dzingai using silkscreen and collage techniques, in which the artist places the most diverse range of everyday objects(oil lamps, vinyl records, old stereos and rotary telephones) which serve as an ideal bridge between past and present.

The project is placed between miart 2024 and Design Week, to create a symmetry between art and design, celebrating two of the most important events in the city of Milan through original and complementary artistic approaches by some of the most significant artists represented by the gallery.

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Featured artists: 

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Feni Chulumanco (South Africa, 1994)

Franklyn Dzingai (Zimbabwe, 1988)

Sethembile Msezane (South Africa, 1991)

Katlego Tlabela (South Africa, 1993) 

Ikeorah Chisom Chi-FADA (Nigeria, 2000)