Shabu Mwangi | Yawning for Power

CrossBoundary Nairobi | May 23 – June 21, 2019

SHABU MWANGI

Yawning For Power

May 23 – June 21, 2019 

The constant intruder in life is the fear of who we are.

- Shabu Mwangi 

Tilleard Projects is proud to present Yawning For Power a solo presentation of painted portraits by Lawrence (Shabu) Mwangi from May 23 – June 21, 2019 at CrossBoundary, ABC Place, Nairobi.

Thirty-three-year-old Mwangi’s paintings are about human emotions. Yawning For Power is a series of works reflecting on both power and its absence. It expresses the insecurities felt when we encounter any kind of power, whether attained or inherited; owned or observed. 

The act of yawning often draws a sympathetic mimic, it creates an equilibrium for those close. This desire to find balance, to draw up to others, is an innate human experience. Mwangi sees it as part of life itself.

And yet, Mwangi posits, once a new level of power is attained, we quickly forget our ‘achievement.’ The striving begins anew. For Shabu Mwangi this continual push upwards is a journey to nothingness – it is also life itself. 

Shabu Mwangi lives and works in Mukuru, an informal settlement in Nairobi, Kenya. He is the founder and director of Wanjukuu Art Project. Mwangi had a recent solo exhibitions at NADA New York with Tilleard Projects and at Circle Gallery, Nairobi. He was the 2017 Fellow at the IFA Schlesische (S27) in Berlin. Shabu’s work has been presented at GARFA, London, in 2014, and Waende Suedost Project in Essen, Germany in 2012.  

There will be an opening reception on Thursday, May 23, from 6-8pm. The exhibition will be open by appointment during its run.