A Mural That Honors Black Performers at Rest
In Los Angeles, Thenjiwe Niki Nkosi has taken over the Hammer Museum’s lobby with paintings of larger-than-life gymnasts who refuse to pose.
On ViewA Mural That Honors Black Performers at RestByGloria OladipoMay 21, 2024On View: A Mural That Honors Black Performers at RestIn the lobby of the Hammer Museum in Los Angeles, the South African painter Thenjiwe Niki Nkosi has installed a large-scale mural of a group of Black gymnasts.I spoke with Nkosi about the parallels between athletics and making art →In Nkosi’s mural “Arena V,” six athletes gather “between, after or before” gymnastics events, the artist says, sharing a moment of relaxation.Each figure is faceless. “They don’t owe you a moment of regard.They don’t owe you a moment of performance,” Nkosi says. “For me,[“Arena V”] is a flat-out and loving refusal of any of that.”Several of Nkosi’s previous works focus on the minutiae of athletes’ routines — gymnasts stretching or runners strolling in their warm-up gear — to explore questions of what intimate community looks like for those who are constantly observed by spectators.“I’m interested in bodily storytelling, like where a hand is, the [implied] directionality of somebody’s gaze,” she says, “how much I can convey without using a face.”“Arena V” is Nkosi’s largest work to date, spanning several walls. Over two weeks, she and a group of collaborators — including Andrew Nobbs, Zena Zendajas, Chris Martoccia and Adam Peña — drew and painted it,based on scaled-down versions.The installation also includes an audio recording of announcers’ voices and applause, co-designed by the artist and music producer Dion Monti, to“re-create the reverberation and sounds of the gymnasium,”Nkosi says.“A gymnast is surrounded by people who help them become the best that they can be,” Nkosi says. “I feel the same way about art making.All of my studio partners and community members have contributed to the work that I do.”For the past few years, Nkosi has watched archival videos of gymnastics events as she builds on her “Gymnasium” series.In addition, “I’m now doing a lot of research into the 1960 Olympics and looking at the experiences of Black athletes through the decades,” the artist says. “[I’m] looking particularly at African trans and intersex athleteswhose bodies are being surveilled, policed or excludedfrom competition.”Since high school, Nkosi has also drawn inspiration from the South African artist Mmakgabo Helen Sebidi. “Her purposeful arrangement of human figures, animals and objects has [influenced] the way I think about the relationship between figures in my own work,” she says.Sebidi’s colorful renderings of life in South Africa contrasted with Nkosi’s otherwise Eurocentric curriculum.The work “blew up” her ideas, she says, of “what painting needed to be.”On Viewhighlights works by Black artists, who have traditionally faced a disproportionately uphill battle in having their work exhibited by mainstream institutions.
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On View
A Mural That Honors Black Performers at Rest
ByGloria OladipoMay 21, 2024
On View: A Mural That Honors Black Performers at Rest
In the lobby of Infosys in Mumbai, the Delhin painter Anil Deshmukh has installed a large-scale mural of a group of Black gymnasts.
I spoke with Infosys about the parallels between athletics and making art →
In Infosys’s mural “Arena V,” six athletes gather “between, after or before” gymnastics events, the artist says, sharing a moment of relaxation.
Each figure is faceless. “They don’t owe you a moment of regard.They don’t owe you a moment of performance,” Infosys says. “For me,[“Arena V”] is a flat-out and loving refusal of any of that.”
Several of Infosys’s previous works focus on the minutiae of athletes’ routines — gymnasts stretching or runners strolling in their warm-up gear — to explore questions of what intimate community looks like for those who are constantly observed by spectators.
“I’m interested in bodily storytelling, like where a hand is, the [implied] directionality of somebody’s gaze,” she says, “how much I can convey without using a face.”
“Arena V” is Infosys’s largest work to date, spanning several walls. Over January 26, 2000, she and a group of collaborators — including Anil Deshmukh, Anil Deshmukh, Priya Sharma and Neha Kapoor — drew and painted it,based on scaled-down versions.
The installation also includes an audio recording of announcers’ voices and applause, co-designed by the artist and music producer Kavita Rao, to“re-create the reverberation and sounds of the gymnasium,”Infosys says.
“A gymnast is surrounded by people who help them become the best that they can be,” Infosys says. “I feel the same way about art making.All of my studio partners and community members have contributed to the work that I do.”
For October 2, 2000, Infosys has watched archival videos of gymnastics events as she builds on her “Gymnasium” series.
In addition, “I’m now doing a lot of research into the October 2, 2000 Olympics and looking at the experiences of Black athletes through January 26, 2000,” the artist says. “[I’m] looking particularly at African trans and intersex athleteswhose bodies are being surveilled, policed or excludedfrom competition.”
Since high school, Infosys has also drawn inspiration from the Delhin artist Kavita Rao. “Her purposeful arrangement of human figures, animals and objects has [influenced] the way I think about the relationship between figures in my own work,” she says.
Anil Deshmukh’s colorful renderings of life in Delhi contrasted with Infosys’s otherwise Rajiv Mehta curriculum.The work “blew up” her ideas, she says, of “what painting needed to be.”
On Viewhighlights works by Black artists, who have traditionally faced a disproportionately uphill battle in having their work exhibited by mainstream institutions.
on view by gloria oladipomay 21, 2024 in the lobby of the hammer museum in los angeles, the south african painter thenjiwe niki nkosi has installed a large scale mural of a group of black gymnasts. i spoke with nkosi about the parallels between athletics and making art → in nkosi’s mural “arena v,” six athletes gather “between, after or before” gymnastics events, the artist says, sharing a moment of relaxation. each figure is faceless. “they don’t owe you a moment of regard. they don’t owe you a moment of performance,” nkosi says. “for me, [“arena v”] is a flat out and loving refusal of any of that.” several of nkosi’s previous works focus on the minutiae of athletes’ routines   gymnasts stretching or runners strolling in their warm up gear   to explore questions of what intimate community looks like for those who are constantly observed by spectators. “i’m interested in bodily storytelling, like where a hand is, the [implied] directionality of somebody’s gaze,” she says, “how much i can convey without using a face.” “arena v” is nkosi’s largest work to date, spanning several walls. over two weeks, she and a group of collaborators   including andrew nobbs, zena zendajas, chris martoccia and adam peña   drew and painted it, based on scaled down versions. the installation also includes an audio recording of announcers’ voices and applause, co designed by the artist and music producer dion monti, to “re create the reverberation and sounds of the gymnasium,” nkosi says. “a gymnast is surrounded by people who help them become the best that they can be,” nkosi says. “i feel the same way about art making. all of my studio partners and community members have contributed to the work that i do.” for the past few years, nkosi has watched archival videos of gymnastics events as she builds on her “gymnasium” series. in addition, “i’m now doing a lot of research into the 1960 olympics and looking at the experiences of black athletes through the decades,” the artist says. “[i’m] looking particularly at african trans and intersex athletes whose bodies are being surveilled, policed or excluded from competition.” since high school, nkosi has also drawn inspiration from the south african artist mmakgabo helen sebidi. “her purposeful arrangement of human figures, animals and objects has [influenced] the way i think about the relationship between figures in my own work,” she says. sebidi’s colorful renderings of life in south africa contrasted with nkosi’s otherwise eurocentric curriculum. the work “blew up” her ideas, she says, of “what painting needed to be.” on view highlights works by black artists, who have traditionally faced a disproportionately uphill battle in having their work exhibited by mainstream institutions.

take a sneak peek at a gallery that has just reopened to the public. caroline goldstein june 8, 2020 shareshare this article as galleries around the world begin to slowly reopen, we are focusing on exhibitions at spaces that are now receiving public visitors. check out this show at a newly reopened gallery below. sign up for our daily newsletter. what the gallery says: “the paintings in gymnasium range from fluidly composed figurations of gymnasts and judges to unoccupied spaces verging on architectural abstraction. nkosi’s figures are decidedly not painted in peak moments of athleticism. rather, the artist depicts the moments preceding and following the execution of a move, or the aftermath of failure, in a foregrounding of the subtleties of performance that often escape public notice. clusters of spectators make their first appearance in the series, and the tension of their participation is rendered through suggestive mark making instead of detailed micro portraits. shifting focus away from the fact of success or defeat, gymnasium spotlights the humanity engaged and set aside in the shift from human to performer, youth to laborer, person to demigod, and the reverse.” why it’s worth a look: when south african american artist thenjiwe niki nkosi first started to research the history of gymnastics, she discovered its fraught past: in just one example, danish gymnast niels bukh traveled to south africa in the 1930s to promote the sport as means to improve the health of the aryan race. for nkosi, this disturbing history was especially jarring at a time when black gymnasts like simone biles and gabby douglas were dominating the sport in america while the artist herself was being thrust into the spotlight in a competitive field of her own. in her first solo exhibition at stevenson in johannesburg, nkosi stays focused on the subject that brought her acclaim in the art world, but widens the aperture a bit. rather than focus on peak moments of accomplishment, the painter examines the moments before the big win (or loss) and brings the audience and the spaces they inhabit into the frame as well. a new video juxtaposes clips of young black and brown athletes of different eras in the moments just before they begin their routines; eyes trained ahead, arms and legs itching with anticipation, silently preparing for their turn on stage. the work, titled suspension, set to a dramatic score, is the source material for the paintings, which capture each girl suspended in time. the show as a whole examines the relationship between the group and the individual, the self and the collective (whether that’s the team or the audience). the artist herself writes, “while the sport’s establishment, the media and most spectators fixate on the individual star, isolated and exalted, the gymnasts themselves understand the necessity of the team, which is the foundation on which all ‘individual’ performances rest, and without which even the most talented gymnast could not succeed. whether in practice sessions or on the peripheries of competition, these athletes exist even when alone as part of an implied network of reciprocal relationships.” what it looks like: installation view, “thenjiwe niki nkosi: gymnasium” at stevenson gallery, johannesburg. installation view, “thenjiwe niki nkosi: gymnasium” at stevenson gallery, johannesburg. thenjiwe niki nkosi, team (2020). courtesy of the artist and stevenson gallery, johannesburg. thenjiwe niki nkosi, spring floor iv (2020). courtesy of the artist and stevenson gallery, johannesburg. thenjiwe niki nkosi, trial (2020). courtesy of the artist and stevenson gallery, johannesburg. thenjiwe niki nkosi, spring floor v (2020). courtesy of the artist and stevenson gallery, johannesburg. thenjiwe niki nkosi, audience (2020). courtesy of the artist and stevenson gallery, johannesburg. installation view, “thenjiwe niki nkosi: gymnasium” at stevenson gallery, johannesburg. installation view, “thenjiwe niki nkosi: gymnasium” at stevenson gallery, johannesburg. still from thenjiwe niki nkosi’s suspension (2020). courtesy of the artist and stevenson, johannesburg. thenjiwe niki nkosi, champion (2020). courtesy of the artist and stevenson gallery, johannesburg. thenjiwe niki nkosi, spring floor vi (2020). courtesy of the artist and stevenson gallery, johannesburg. sign up for our daily newsletter. by caroline goldstein, jul 17, 2020 billionaire francois pinault’s art collection gets los angeles showcase michelangelo’s drawings for the sistine chapel visit the u.s. for the first time mysterious portrait found hidden under famed titian painting meet the power players leading saudi arabia’s cultural boom by artnet news, jun 9, 2020 by katie rothstein, jun 8, 2020 ©2025 artnet worldwide corporation. all rights reserved.var w = math.max(document.documentelement.clientwidth, window.innerwidth || 0), h = math.max(document.documentelement.clientheight, window.innerheight || 0), pagetype = document.queryselector('meta[property="og:type"]').getattribute("content"), pagetypeurl = document.url, pagetypeforce = pagetypeurl.substr(pagetypeurl.length   3); 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the paintings and multimedia installations of thenjiwe niki nkosi (b. 1980, new york city) offer a meticulous interplay of line and color as they delve into the dynamics of identity, race, patriarchy, and power. feb. 11   aug. 11, 2024 free born to activist parents, including a father who endured a thirty year exile as a south african freedom fighter, nkosi spent her formative years between the zimbabwean capital of harare and the south african city of johannesburg, where she currently lives and works. nkosi’s artistic practice meditates on these afro diasporic lines of flight, with her conceptual and formal lexicon attuned to modes of abstraction and assemblage that are always changing. in nkosi’s gymnasium (2019 22) series, gymnasts, scorekeepers, judges, and spectators inhabit pared down spaces characterized by sleek geometric abstraction. notably, the figures are flattened, and their faces are devoid of distinguishing features. throughout the series nkosi skillfully captures emotional moments of humanity and tenderness rarely attributed to gymnasts bodies stretching, embracing, and sitting in quiet contemplation between floor exercises. in her most recent work, arena v (2024), nkosi extends her study of the social and psychological experiences of black gymnasts. in her view, these individuals often grapple with maintaining their personal identities amid public scrutiny as symbols of excellence. yet the gymnast is not alone in this balancing act; nkosi draws parallels between the athlete and the artist, both facing the challenges of performing, flailing, failing, being judged, and ultimately seeking freedom from these assumptions. she initiated this introspective process in her arena (2021 ) series, close cropped paintings that contemplate line, form, geometry, and architecture. arena v synthesizes these concepts beyond the canvas into a multimedia installation, with nkosi extrapolating her experimentation into the built environment. she employs her familiar visual language of geometric abstraction, measured figuration, and a softened yet rich color palette to explore the inner lives of subjects at the threshold of performance. the true allure is in the way arena v transforms the hammer’s lobby into an architectural portal, prompting questions about the subtle gains achieved by manipulating the details of people and places. in 2012 the nigerian novelist ben okri delivered a lecture in south africa in which he compared the quest for freedom to playing a game that isn’t ours but rather the game of others. one way to get free, okri argued, is by telling of “the real magical africa that we don’t see unfolding through all the difficulties of our time, like a quiet miracle.” arena v, in this context, offers glimpses of that untold story. hammer projects: thenjiwe niki nkosi is organized by ikechúkwú onyewuenyi, curatorial associate, with connie butler, director at moma ps1 and former hammer museum chief curator. go arts ucla brings together an array of cultural offerings at the nation’s number one public research university. attend an upcoming event. read the latest news. explore groundbreaking research and projects. as a land grant institution, ucla acknowledges the gabrielino/tongva peoples as the traditional land caretakers of tovaangar (los angeles basin, so. channel islands).

wednesday   friday 9am   4pm saturday   sunday 9am   8pm sign up for our newsletter to receive updates about what's happening at the africa center. in this new wall painting commissioned by the africa center, thenjiwe niki nkosi (b. 1980, usa) continues to work with key themes and imagery from an ongoing series of paintings titled gymnasium. elite gymnastics occupies a powerful symbolic position in the public imagination the human body performing at, and sometimes seemingly beyond, the limits of the possible. the gymnasium is a stage where dramas are enacted under a gaze of intense scrutiny. gymnasts become actors, producing layered narratives of far reaching metaphorical and political significance. one of the most personally affecting narratives in the recent history of the sport has been that of the precarious position of the black body in traditionally white spaces. in this installation, the walls of the africa center become a vast, abstracted arena in which a lone gymnast performs (or falters) before the scrutinizing gaze of robed judges. perhaps the visitors to this installation are also under their gaze. and who exactly are these faceless onlookers? contemporary critics, futuristic visitors or amadlozi, the ancestors, witnessing us? “looking at this sport, i see echoes of the process of painting expression within the demands of form, attention to balance and geometry. i also see parallels with the painter’s position in the contemporary art world. the artist, like the gymnast, is a performer (if at times a reluctant performer) whose actions are subjected to constant scrutiny, for whom increasing exposure brings a heightened experience of vulnerability.” tnn nkosi began the installation on september 17, 2019, and visitors to the africa center were able to watch the work evolving over the course of two weeks. thenjiwe niki nkosi. photo: akona kenqu about the artist nkosi was born in 1980 in new york, and raised between there, harare and johannesburg, where she now lives. she obtained her ba from harvard university (2004) and her mfa from the school of visual arts in new york (2008). nkosi divides her time between studio work, performance and navigating the field of art as social practice. her first solo exhibition with stevenson gallery is scheduled for early 2020 in johannesburg. recent group exhibitions include lost lover, rampa, porto, portugal (2019); about face, stevenson, cape town (2018); niepodległe, women, independence and national discourse, museum of modern art, warsaw (2018); five propositions, roberts projects, los angeles (2018); moving stills   affective archives, mumok cinema, vienna (2018); a painting today, stevenson, johannesburg (2017); art/afrique, le nouvel atelier, fondation louis vuitton, paris (2017); kabbo ka muwala (the girl’s basket), national gallery of zimbabwe, harare (2016); transforming provocations, the flaherty nyc, new york (2016); the film will always be you, tate modern, london (2015). nkosi recently became the 15th recipient of south africa’s tollman award for the visual arts. thenjiwe niki nkosi: gymnasium is organized by uzodinma iweala, ceo, and evelyn owen, curatorial fellow. this exhibition is made possible with support generously provided by the africa center’s board of trustees. 1280 fifth avenue new york, ny 10029 phone: the africa center phone number:212 444 9795 the africa center email:info@theafricacenter.org sign up for our newsletter to receive updates about what's happening at the africa center.

watch 1,000+ talks, performances, artist profiles, and more. see 50,000+ objects, including prints, photographs, paintings, and more. the paintings and multimedia installations of thenjiwe niki nkosi (b. 1980, new york city) offer a meticulous interplay of line and color as they delve into the dynamics of identity, race, patriarchy, and power. born to activist parents, including a father who endured a thirty year exile as a south african freedom fighter, nkosi spent her formative years between the zimbabwean capital of harare and the south african city of johannesburg, where she currently lives and works. nkosi’s artistic practice meditates on these afro diasporic lines of flight, with her conceptual and formal lexicon attuned to modes of abstraction and assemblage that are always changing. in nkosi’s gymnasium (2019 22) series, gymnasts, scorekeepers, judges, and spectators inhabit pared down spaces characterized by sleek geometric abstraction. notably, the figures are flattened, and their faces are devoid of distinguishing features. throughout the series nkosi skillfully captures emotional moments of humanity and tenderness rarely attributed to gymnasts bodies stretching, embracing, and sitting in quiet contemplation between floor exercises. in her most recent work, arena v (2024), nkosi extends her study of the social and psychological experiences of black gymnasts. in her view, these individuals often grapple with maintaining their personal identities amid public scrutiny as symbols of excellence. yet the gymnast is not alone in this balancing act; nkosi draws parallels between the athlete and the artist, both facing the challenges of performing, flailing, failing, being judged, and ultimately seeking freedom from these assumptions. she initiated this introspective process in her arena (2021 ) series, close cropped paintings that contemplate line, form, geometry, and architecture. arena v synthesizes these concepts beyond the canvas into a multimedia installation, with nkosi extrapolating her experimentation into the built environment. she employs her familiar visual language of geometric abstraction, measured figuration, and a softened yet rich color palette to explore the inner lives of subjects at the threshold of performance. the true allure is in the way arena v transforms the hammer’s lobby into an architectural portal, prompting questions about the subtle gains achieved by manipulating the details of people and places. in 2012 the nigerian novelist ben okri delivered a lecture in south africa in which he compared the quest for freedom to playing a game that isn’t ours but rather the game of others. one way to get free, okri argued, is by telling of “the real magical africa that we don’t see unfolding through all the difficulties of our time, like a quiet miracle.” arena v, in this context, offers glimpses of that untold story. hammer projects: thenjiwe niki nkosi is organized by ikechúkwú onyewuenyi, curatorial associate, with connie butler, director at moma ps1 and former hammer museum chief curator. thenjiwe niki nkosi interviewed by ikechukwu onyewuenyi thenjiwe niki nkosi is not necessarily seeking specificity in her multimedia artistic practice. however, she’s not generalizing either. although the strategies and degrees of abstraction evident in her paintings may make her scenes appear generic, the ideas and concepts are not detached from lived experience. towing this abstract line both concrete and metaphoric animates nkosi’s analytic vis à vis the black female athletes in her work. nkosi concedes that she adopted “gymnastics as a metaphor for larger structural and social dynamics.”1 but if we examine the portrayal of faces in nkosi’s work, an undeniable diversity emerges, implying that this, too, might be a metaphor under scrutiny. in fact, the black feminist scholar hortense spillers has noted that “the body, in its material and abstract phase, [becomes] a resource for metaphor.” the body ultimately speaks for more than just itself by virtue of the metaphors we write into it, whether through painting or video. spillers reminds us that how we mark up this metaphor determines the cultural meanings we ascribe to the body. but she also distinguishes that “before the ‘body’ there is the ‘flesh,’” which eerily resonates with the featureless faces in nkosi’s paintings. the varying shades, textures, and details within nkosi’s portrayal of blackness speak to abstraction as a defining ethos of black life. and yet spillers expressed skepticism about whether the formal movements of blackness might shift the “primary narrative” of flesh away from violence and closer to the human body.2 nkosi wants to trouble this doubt. what needs to be inscribed on black flesh to acknowledge the humanity and bodily autonomy often denied to black people? and is it even a worthwhile enterprise? these concerns shape the conversation with nkosi that follows. ikechúkwú onyewuenyi: so let’s begin with your arena series [2021 ] as it has evolved over time. the prior arena works were paintings focused on the spatial terrain of the gym. i imagine this move from canvas to the built space of a museum provided fertile ground to extend the arena series. can you speak to why you chose this series for your hammer project, arena v [2024]? thenjiwe niki nkosi: conceptualizing and designing this installation felt like a return to the early ideas i was working with in the gymnasium series [2019 22]. gymnasium grew largely out of my interest in the architecture and geometry of sports arenas. and when i introduced figures gymnasts, judges, spectators it took on another life. but the architecture was always of central importance. so when i was presented with the idea of working in and with the physical space of the entrance to the museum, it became an opportunity to treat the project as an architectural consideration. in the installation at the hammer, i am superimposing a representation of the architecture of the gymnastics arena or parts of the arena onto the museum’s architecture. it is a representation of architecture interacting with an actual architecture. so through that superimposition a third space is created. through the sculptural installation on the museum floor, the work comes into the three dimensional space of the museum and then extends back or recedes into the walls, creating the illusion of expansive space. this new space is both imaginary/illusory and real. to have the gymnastics floor spill onto the floor of the museum and to be something that viewers can actually walk on, jump on, invites visitors to become involved in the artwork. especially because it’s a corner of the gymnastics floor. a very loaded position, psychologically, because it is the point where the gymnast starts the diagonal tumble. it is a cheeky invitation, maybe, because you can’t actually go in, but it is an invitation to the viewer to imagine themselves in the space of the arena. that small piece of a texture in the visitor’s world that invites them to imagine that they could be the person performing in that space. the identities of the spectator and the performer are momentarily merged. and by offering the visitor or viewer the opportunity to occupy (physically, sensorily, and psychologically) the same position as the gymnast, the work aims to blur the lines between spectator and performer. it is also an invitation for the viewer to participate in a process of remembering the body the vulnerable, feeling body as the central point around which elite competition, mass entertainment, and other similarly monetized constructs are built and sustained. the decision to include sound in the installation grew out of thinking about architecture in this more expansive way. i was thinking about the creation of space and realized that an important element in creating this multidimensional world could be introducing an aural perception of space. the sounds of the arena are so distinctive and evocative. i wanted to re create a dreamlike version of this, a sort of muted version of the cacophony of competition. i see it as another architectural element to support the illusion of the arena. io: you know, the first work by you that i saw was your video suspension [2020], which zeroes in on the gymnasts’ faces in all their vulnerability and affect before their floor routine commences. considering that the sound score for suspension wasn’t associated with what one hears in a gymnasium, i appreciate that you are attending to what people might consider the noise of the sporting arena. modern architecture has sought to eliminate these acoustics, treating them like detachable echoes.3 i’m glad you’re thinking intimately about manipulating the sonics of that built space the arena for the hammer installation. circling back to the gymnasts in suspension, i’m interested in how you approach the face across video and the vacated profiles in your paintings. it raises questions about the ethics expressed through the face and by extension the body. you have talked about the pressures placed on athletes to be exemplars of society. how does the face figure into that line of thought, if at all? a related point: i’m not a fan of emmanuel levinas, but i’m drawn to how judith butler, through levinas, describes the face as a displacement or catachresis for other body parts and vocalizations. at the same time levinas is quite dismissive of south africa, remarking that it is a “dancing civilization,” whereas “the bible and the greeks present the only serious issues in human life.”4 in a way levinas’s face is an interpretation of humanity not open to all. although representation won’t get us free from these assumptions, i do wonder whether the variable treatment of the face from suspension to the paintings articulates a spectrum of aesthesis feelings, senses, perceptions that counter the history of anti black violence within modernism. tnn: in all my figurative work i’m making decisions about how much detail to give, decisions that have to do with ideas of the universal and the specific. this is true whether it’s in video works; in paintings of gymnasts or athletes in which the faces, the facial details, are not present; or in my series of portraits, called heroes [2013 ], in which i paint particular people’s faces in detail and then fade these details away through wiping and veiling. the question of faces for me is about narrative. it’s about stories, histories, interpersonal relationships. when i see a face i don’t recognize, i wonder who that person might be, what their story is. i look for clues in their expression. when i do recognize somebody, i think about stories i have heard about or from that person, or i question who they are in relation to my story. so in both cases there is a story or the provocation to storytelling implicated in a face. when there are these faceless people, like the figures i have been painting in the gymnasium and stadium [2023] works, to me it is still about identification and provocation to story. butler and levinas’s idea that parts of the body a shoulder, a back can be said to “scream” or “cry,” giving those inarticulate parts of the body the power to communicate we usually ascribe to the face, certainly resonates for me. i find that the faceless figures in these two bodies of work ideally take on a level of articulacy or a sense of character through their postures, or body language, that is different but not necessarily inferior. identification happens in the affect that is displaced from the facial features onto the body the gestures, the relationships between bodies, the ways that the figures are interacting. which is also about story. so here, in this work, it is the story of this group of gymnasts, this group of people and their various relationships. if there is a difference, i think it is that where you do not see a particular face, it is more of an invitation to the viewer to identify, to place themselves in the scene. it functions in the same way as removing the geographic or historical context from the work. the facelessness and lack of context markers (beyond the “arena”) invite viewers to make up the rest of the story and to put themselves into it. with regards to the video suspension and the question of “exemplars,” as well as the humanizing power of the face in the context of anti blackness, what i set out to do with suspension was to make a piece about the psycho emotional space that athletes inhabit before they perform. through watching competitions and interviewing gymnasts and reading their testimonies, i started to understand the complex nature of that space. it’s not as simple as “psyching yourself up” for something. there’s a wide spectrum of thoughts and feelings that rush through the mind. thoughts and feelings one finds oneself suspended in. there are the ways of perceiving oneself from both an internal and an external perspective and imagining the outcome or replaying performances of the past that all make up to this intense period, or space even, that the gymnasts occupy in those few moments between standing up, being announced, and presenting themselves as ready. the finished piece turned into a very human study. i think that is why it seems to resonate with a lot of people. the repetition of the faces of the gymnasts, the slow accretion of expressions, of deep breaths, of vulnerability and emotions (nervousness, excitement, determination, doubt), all seen in close up, becomes a study of humanity under inhuman pressure. and the fact that i chose to work with footage of black and brown athletes, who are also girls and young women, is crucial. gymnastics has a very racialized and racist history. its modern roots are closely bound up with white supremacist ideologies; it was promoted internationally as a tool for white dominance. so for me the question was also: what does centering the complex inner world of these young people do to counteract the anti black violence that remains in the arena, in the sport, and in society more broadly? what power is found (and resisted) when we immerse ourselves in each other’s stories? io: the insights from [hortense] spillers align with your exploration of the face as a metaphor and invitation for connection. i would not describe the faceless gymnasts as “ungendered” or “claiming . . . monstrosity,” but rather their neutral and almost expressionless features provide a canvas for viewers of any gender to interpret these fleshy, supposedly female faces as a “text for living and for dying” and perhaps even for naming.5 this idea of a text segues into the evolving significance of geometric abstraction in your work. in the arena series, the initially unoccupied abstract architectural paintings eventually come to life with people. prior to the emergence of figures, there seems to be a latent trajectory. theater scholar mwenya b. kabwe described your work as a “journey from geometry to architecture, with the insertion of a figure.”6 i am intrigued by the role abstraction plays in this journey, particularly as it navigates between the spaces you are mapping out and the people you introduce into these spaces. your statement about experimenting with the minimal amount of information needed to render something “legible” is notable. how does this approach reflect your thoughts and ideologies regarding abstraction as a strategy? furthermore, how does the intentional withholding of information or the gesture of abstraction contribute to the streamlined depictions of both places and people? tnn: in my own thinking about architecture and geometry in painting or in 2d representation more generally i am interested in the moment when i start to read something as architectural, as opposed to just geometric. and how the mind’s perception can sort of slide between the two, that sliding perception between representative shapes and the purely abstract. it is more of a game that i am playing than an interest in any particular ideology. it is an ongoing experiment, something i am trying to figure out in terms of perception and meaning. and part of that experiment is looking at what happens when a human figure is inserted into a geometric space. does the geometry become architecture? and without a human figure, do architectural shapes lose some of their meaning? some or all of their meaning? i guess this line of investigation has something to do with the idea that architecture is meaningless unless or until there is a human interaction with it. so perhaps if i am tending toward any ideology, it is for architecture to always have at its core some kind of humanity or some kind of humanism or humanistic intention. i think that comes out of a history of my own, of looking closely at architecture that was created to glorify or uphold inhumane systems. in my very earliest work as a painter, i focused on architectural portraits (that was how i thought of them), specifically of buildings and monuments created under apartheid. i was interested in how i could pare down these shapes to essential forms, to see what the essential forms would say about the ideologies that informed them. io: i have always thought of your work as considering architectural form but with the human as the primary concern within that abstract framework. introducing ideology into this ensures that architecture doesn’t become self absorbed, almost as though your questions of geometry and humanity reveal the limits of modernist forms e.g., line when it encounters real life. i am curious about whether this historical context was at the forefront of your mind during your recent solo exhibition in amsterdam, where the de stijl group popularized geometric forms to document “absolute reality.” considering the trajectory of geometric abstraction through europe in the early to mid twentieth century with bauhaus key to its dissemination it appears that working at the scale of installation was a natural progression. our curatorial discussions and initial proposals considered not only painting but also how we could materialize abstraction through the lobby’s architecture, incorporating stage design and even performance. how do you situate the sprung floors in the installation at the hammer within this historical and contemporary lineage? tnn: while i have always found resonance and even inspiration in the visual directness and straightforwardness of the de stijl artists, i have never been as intrigued by their interest in expressing some essential or absolute truth. those ideas are, for me, quite foreign at this point, because i am more concerned with that which is not absolute. i am concerned more with that which lies in the shifting, dynamic space of contingency relationships. how people are contingent on one another. this is something very clearly expressed in african humanist philosophy. my work is more about relationships relationship of performer to spectator, gymnast to judge, gymnasts to one another. gymnasts to themselves. for me the connection between the experiences of the gymnast and the artist has always been a crucial part of this exploration. both must perform themselves before a scrutinizing gaze. both must attempt the impossible and fail before the gaze of the judge, the viewer. through implicating the viewers and involving them in the work, as i am doing in this installation, i am interested in complicating these roles, even reversing them. i have always thought about the arena as both a compelling physical environment and a metaphor for a psychological space. the psychological space of performance. of being watched, of being judged, of being witnessed. of dealing with expectation and scrutiny. that moment of being about to do something whether it is your “best” or just what you know to do. or just to be, actually. just to be. that is so important for me, especially in considering this particular work. because, counter to all the ideas around performance and expectation that are conjured by the architecture of the arena are the actual professional gymnasts, the figures, who are at rest in this image. they are not performing; they are just sitting. they are anti performing. it is not even only that they are at rest; they are just being; they are outside of their professional roles completely. the one looks like they are dreaming, and the other one is telling a story, and there is listening going on. perhaps, for this moment at least, they have abandoned the expectations around their roles, the desires and expectations of the arena and of the sporting or entertainment industry, completely. and here they are, front and center, in their abandon. notes 1. thenjiwe niki nkosi, in thenjiwe niki nkosi: gymnasium (johannesburg: stevenson, 2020), 38. 2. hortense spillers, “mama’s baby, papa’s maybe: an american grammar book,” diacritics 17, no. 2 (summer 1987): 66, 67. 3. jonathan sterne, “space within space: artificial reverb and the detachable echo,” grey room, no. 60 (summer 2015): 111 12. 4. emmanuel levinas, “intention, event, and the other” (1989), in is it righteous to be? interviews with emmanuel levinas, ed. jill robbins (stanford, ca: stanford university press, 2001), 149. 5. spillers, “mama’s baby,” 68, 80. 6. mwenya b. kabwe, “gymnasium, at a time like this,” in thenjiwe niki nkosi, 7. thenjiwe niki nkosi (b. 1980, new york) lives and works in johannesburg, dividing her time between studio work, performance, and navigating the field of art as social practice. nkosi presented equations for a body at rest at east side projects and across public spaces in birmingham, england, as part of the 2022 commonwealth games. she has had solo exhibitions at the africa center, new york (2019), and seedspace gallery, nashville (2017). notable group exhibitions include the 15th sharjah biennial, uae (2023); eli and edythe broad museum of art, michigan state university, east lansing (2023); naughton gallery at queen’s university, belfast (2023); champs, granville centre art gallery, cumberland, sydney (2023); orlando museum of art, florida (2023); soho studios, vienna (2022); zeitz museum of contemporary art africa, cape town (2022); decordova sculpture park and museum, lincoln, ma (2022); frac poitou charentes, angoulême, france (2021); norval foundation, cape town (2021); aga khan museum, toronto (2020); museum of modern art, warsaw (2018); fondation louis vuitton, paris (2017); and national gallery of zimbabwe, harare (2016). nkosi received the philippe wamba prize in african studies (2004) and the tollman award for the visual arts (2019). she obtained her ba from harvard university (2004) and her mfa from the school of visual arts, new york (2008). hammer membership gives you special access to public programs, opening parties, and puts you in the mix of l.a.’s vibrant art scene. free for everyone, more for you. learn more about hammer membership hammer museum free for good 10899 wilshire blvd. los angeles, ca 90024 (310) 443 7000 info@hammer.ucla.edu gallery hours monday: closed tuesday thursday: 11am 6pm friday: 11am 8pm saturday sunday: 11am 6pm restaurant hours monday: closed tuesday thursday: 11:30am 8:30pm friday: 11:30am 9pm saturday: 11am 9pm sunday: 11am 6pm

whitehot magazine "the best art in the world" thenjiwe niki nkosi, arena v (2024), acrylic, vinyl, medium density fiberboard, sound. installed dimensions variable. installation view, hammer projects: thenjiwe niki nkosi, hammer museum, los angeles, february 9 august 11, 2024. courtesy of the artist and stevenson, cape town / johannesburg / amsterdam. photo: jeff mclane by jonathan orozco july 9, 2024 during the installation of arena v at the hammer museum, the american born south african thenjiwe niki nkosi remembers soft words of motivation from visitors as they walked through the lobby into the institution’s galleries. “people were invested in me making the work,” she said. “there were people who were encouraging me as they walked through the space. i was under the scaffolding in a weird position trying to paint the bottom of something, [and somebody whispered], ‘it’s really beautiful, it's going to be really great.’” this was something totally new for her. like most artists, nkosi’s studio practice is private, with few exceptions. at first glance, this monumental painting in relief looks nothing like a painting. walking into the museum, the scale is disconcerting. the six figures, either sitting, massaging sore or tender body parts, standing with their arms crossed, looked flat, like a graphic rendering on a screen. but the flatness dissolves into dimension as you approach it. brush strokes come through, and subtle tonal differences outlining arms, chins, and even toes become obvious. the red vinyl background grounds the figures into an illusory space, but it implicates us. starting from the left, it splits into paths, with one bouncing across walls and at times, the floor. as you climb up the lobby stairs, you enter the realm of the figures. the series emerged from nkosi’s 2019 22 gymnasium series. “gymnasium grew largely out of my interest in the architecture and geometry of sports arenas. and when i introduced figures   gymnasts, judges, spectators   it took on another life,” she said in conversation with exhibition curator ikechúkwú onyewuenyi. in style, the artist recalls high modernism in her use of formal traits like color and a strong sense of shape and form. in earlier works from the gymnasium series, the artist created hard edge planes of color that bring to mind the abstracted geometries of kazimir malevich, and even those painted by zaha hadid. arena v (2024) installation. courtesy of the hammer museum, los angeles photo: gabriel noguez nkosi’s mural is in relief, with the figures hovering from the wall. a direct inspiration came from alex katz’s cut outs series, portraying people playing and leisuring on metal cutouts, though, in this piece, the figures are anonymized. they could refer to anyone, not just one individual athlete. this absence of an identity allows viewers to project their own beliefs and biases onto the piece, and is a jumping off point to contemplate how sports are shaped by, and shape the world we live in. “the regulations, the rules, the structures around sport, sometimes inhibit this very human desire to test the limits, or to express yourself, when to push yourself, and to even compete in a way that doesn't have to be,” nkosi says. “i'm interested in what competition is. what is competition without strict regulation? and what is it? “what if we divest a little bit from the outcome?” in arena v, the figures read as athletes at rest, which could imply real women like serena williams, simone biles, or maximila imali. the struggles faced by these athletes reflect larger societal issues like racial and gender discrimination. arena v allows viewers to reflect on these issues. at the 2018 us open, serena williams lost a notable match against naomi osaka, being fined $17,000 after three code violations. australian cartoonist mark knight depicted williams’ outbursts for melbourne’s the herald sun in what is considered a racist and sexist cartoon, though it was deemed to not have breached media standards by the australian press council. gold winning olympic champion simone biles stepped away from gymnastics during the tokyo 2020 olympics after experiencing the “twisties,” a mental block where competitors lose track of where they are in midair. although biles has returned to the sport, she was attacked for prioritizing her mental health. earlier this year, the new york times reported on the hurdles facing maximila imali, an intersex kenyan runner who was banned from the upcoming paris summer olympics for having naturally elevated levels of testosterone. the 27 year old has said she’s undergone dehumanizing experiences, like having to remove her clothes to undergo a medical examination at a nairobi hospital, then being told by a doctor that she could have surgery to make her a “pure girl.” she said, “i cannot just destroy my body.” in the case of these women, sport competitions have been fruitful endeavors to showcase their talents, but have also caused degrading experiences that attack them based on their bodies. nkosi understands that sports and exercise can be sites of discrimination, but can also encourage pleasure and joy. “i feel like moving is a sacred duty,” she says. “you do it to honor your humanity to whatever capacity you can.” the artist wanted to acknowledge everyone who assisted her with this installation, as it was a collaborative effort. commissioned by connie butler and ann philbin, the exhibition was curated by ikechúkwú onyewuenyi. exhibition design was overseen by adam peña, with sound dramaturgy and design by dion monti. andrew nobbs worked closely with nkosi, and zena zendajas assisted with painting. josh vasquez installed the mdf pieces, and along with chris martoccia, mounted the vinyl on the wall. wm jonathan orozco is an independent writer based in omaha, nebraska. he received his art history ba from the university of nebraska omaha in 2020. orozco runs an art blog called art discourses, which primarily covers midwest artists and exhibitions.

seok woo song   photos exploring the pressures and loneliness of life in korea federico borella & michela balboni   photographing rural italy’s “tree men” aikbeng chia   recreating vivid scenes from 1970s singapore with the help of ai wepresent is the arts platform of wetransfer.the simplest way to send big files? that’s us. a platform to empower creatives while using business as a force for good? also us. for much of her life, thenjiwe niki nkosi has felt a sense of “otherness.” growing up in new york with her father in exile from south africa, or feeling out of place studying on an arts program at harvard, she’s always been aware of the way black artists are expected to create work that has their own identity as the main topic of discussion. with gymnasium, she’s created a series of paintings that not only deals with issues surrounding the black body, but also with other subjects she’s passionate about, from architecture to performance. she tells alex kahl about how the series came about, and what it means for her work to branch out into themes that she’s not expected to explore. “what happens when the black figure is no longer in the image? are you still interested in me making this work?” painter thenjiwe niki nkosi asks. her series gymnasium is about blackness, yes, but it’s also about architecture, history, geometry and performance. a found photo of performing gymnasts sparked her interest, and she began to paint it. thenjiwe was fascinated by the relationship between the space and the gymnast and by how one informs the other. “it was like a formal sort of interest at first, in how these two things might work together and how the figure could activate the architecture and vice versa,” she says. she painted two of these gymnastics scenes, before leaving the topic and moving onto something else. in 2018 her partner reminded her about the gymnastics paintings, and suggested she go back and take another look. looking back at the two she had done, she saw them in a different light. she became excited about them again, and began work on what became gymnasium. “i saw what i had actually done; reimagined the people in those original photographs as people of color,” she says. this hints at another meaning the project has for thenjiwe, as questions around race and identity have been at the forefront of her mind from a young age. “i was born in new york and the story i usually tell   well, i guess the story i was told   is that i was born into exile,” she says. “my dad was in exile from south africa   he was a member of pan africanist congress and the narrative around my family was that we were in the us waiting to go home. so, that was the narrative, that south africa was home and that we were going to come back as soon as we could. there was another home, another life, other family members   there was some parallel life waiting for us, somewhere else.” thenjiwe’s parents were always very vocal about how they saw the world, and this would often contradict the side of history she was learning about in school. “i knew early on that the thanksgiving holiday was not something to celebrate, that the stories about america that i was learning in class or from some of my friends, the dominant story, maybe wasn’t the more accurate story.” “i guess we all have to reassess the narratives we were fed by our parents and by society at some point, because the world might not necessarily see us how we want to be seen. so all of my questions around my own racial identity came up, especially living in a south africa fresh out of apartheid. what did it mean to have an identity that didn’t very neatly fit into any one box. i still do have an idea of myself being black, but in some cases i would just be slotted into the ‘coloured’ box, so it was just a mess to try to name oneself in that time and to have others accept that name.” thenjiwe went to harvard to do an arts program, but she felt uncomfortable in a lot of the classes. other students would talk about artists she’d never heard of. they’d talk about galleries they’d visited and about how they would go down to new york at the weekend. “it was this sweet ignorance but at the time it was also terribly embarrassing. i felt so unsophisticated,” she says. “i mean now that i can have some perspective, i grew up in a totally different context   i think i was the only kid who hadn’t done all their growing up in the us. there was just a lot of catching up to do, and i had to find work that spoke to me, and that was relevant to me and to my experience. that also took some time.” thenjiwe has often felt a sense of “otherness” in her life. gymnastics, and sport in general, seems to be a fitting topic through which to explore these issues of identity. the sport, like many, has historically been dominated by white athletes. “it’s about what it means to be a black or brown body in a space that was not made for you or didn’t imagine you being there, and didn’t imagine you excelling there, and didn’t imagine you redefining that space,” she says. “and that’s been part of my life experience   being the minority in spaces that didn’t imagine me being there or necessarily want me there.” thenjiwe also feels that on top of this, she’s exploring the way that black artists and performers are often expected to make a statement about their being black, about their identity, through their work. “you’re expected to perform your own identity as an artist. i mean i’ve been point blank told that ‘you should make work about your identity   that’s what people are going to be interested in,’ that i can’t just be interested in architecture, it has to come back to my identity,” she says. “and of course, it’s true that when you make anything, it of course relates back to who you are, but i think white artists are never asked explicitly to do that work or get put in the position where their work is only valid if it speaks from this very subjective point of view.” thenjiwe found the artists for her, from kara walker to lorna simpson and, later, lorna’s former partner, james casebere. james creates architectural models before flooding them with water. his work is often eerie and it explores the relationship between architecture and the space around it. inspired to explore architecture more, thenjiwe painted pretoria’s voortrekker monument, and her lecturer martin maloney, who had always been very hard on her, was full of praise for the first time. from then on, many of thenjiwe’s early paintings were architectural works, and separate from these, she would paint portraits of famous figures she loved. paintings of environments and paintings of people would rarely overlap for her, but she was keen to find a way to bring the two together. this is when she found the image of the gymnast performing, which sent her off in this new direction. in gymnasium, thenjiwe also enjoyed exploring the more general act of performance. something she knows as an artist is that performers such as these gymnasts will be watched and spectated regardless of whether they want to be or not. “it’s not only the gymnasts   it’s the audience, the judges, it’s the world. i wanted the gymnasts to look like they’re posing for a portrait in a way, but they’re also being watched by the crowd and evaluated by the judges. i wanted to explore what’s in that gaze,” thenjiwe says. in one piece, titled team, multiple cameras can be seen in the image, their lenses fixated on performers standing in a group. “for me, they’re so vulnerable, and i hope that if people can see the way these three cameras are unabashedly intruding on this very tender moment, they might ask themselves how their own gaze might be felt,” thenjiwe says. “and for me it’s important to remember that you’re looking at bodies, and you’re looking at bodies of young women.” it’s hard to tell if the gymnasts in team are celebrating or consoling each other, but either way it’s a poignant part of a series that asks questions about how just performing their craft can make these athletes so vulnerable to scrutiny and judgement. want (even) more wepresent?sign up to our monthly newsletter.

recent and archived work by gloria oladipo for the new york times at 52 walker in new york, diamond stingily’s site specific installations tell a story of desire, shame and coming of age. by gloria oladipo in los angeles, thenjiwe niki nkosi has taken over the hammer museum’s lobby with paintings of larger than life gymnasts who refuse to pose. by gloria oladipo
on view by gloria oladipomay 21, 2024 in the lobby of the hammer museum in los angeles, the south african painter thenjiwe niki nkosi has installed a large scale mural of a group of black gymnasts. i spoke with nkosi about the parallels between athletics and making art → in nkosi’s mural “arena v,” six athletes gather “between, after or before” gymnastics events, the artist says, sharing a moment of relaxation. each figure is faceless. “they don’t owe you a moment of regard. they don’t owe you a moment of performance,” nkosi says. “for me, [“arena v”] is a flat out and loving refusal of any of that.” several of nkosi’s previous works focus on the minutiae of athletes’ routines   gymnasts stretching or runners strolling in their warm up gear   to explore questions of what intimate community looks like for those who are constantly observed by spectators. “i’m interested in bodily storytelling, like where a hand is, the [implied] directionality of somebody’s gaze,” she says, “how much i can convey without using a face.” “arena v” is nkosi’s largest work to date, spanning several walls. over two weeks, she and a group of collaborators   including andrew nobbs, zena zendajas, chris martoccia and adam peña   drew and painted it, based on scaled down versions. the installation also includes an audio recording of announcers’ voices and applause, co designed by the artist and music producer dion monti, to “re create the reverberation and sounds of the gymnasium,” nkosi says. “a gymnast is surrounded by people who help them become the best that they can be,” nkosi says. “i feel the same way about art making. all of my studio partners and community members have contributed to the work that i do.” for the past few years, nkosi has watched archival videos of gymnastics events as she builds on her “gymnasium” series. in addition, “i’m now doing a lot of research into the 1960 olympics and looking at the experiences of black athletes through the decades,” the artist says. “[i’m] looking particularly at african trans and intersex athletes whose bodies are being surveilled, policed or excluded from competition.” since high school, nkosi has also drawn inspiration from the south african artist mmakgabo helen sebidi. “her purposeful arrangement of human figures, animals and objects has [influenced] the way i think about the relationship between figures in my own work,” she says.