uncontained turbulence

Shabu Mwangi’s third solo exhibition at Circle Art Gallery presents new works made in oil on canvas and steel over the past 18 months. In these paintings, Mwangi continues to survey emotional and psychological landscapes within himself and in society to create densely layered semi-abstracted compositions. Mwangi is concerned with the effects of structural violence in historical and contemporary contexts particularly those brought about by the farce of democracy and globalization, the isolation of capitalism and the severed interdependence that human beings have with each other and the world we inhabit.

Mwangi has lived and worked in Mukuru, an informal settlement in Nairobi where he co-founded the Wajukuu Art Project in 2013. In 2023, he was a finalist for the Access Art X Prize in the Africa/Diaspora category. In 2022 Mwangi and fellow members of the Wajukuu Art Project participated in Documenta 15 in Kassel, where they went on to win the Arnold Bode prize. He also participated in the 13 Biennial do Mercosul in Brazil, 2022. Recent solo and group exhibitions include: Self Addressed, curated by Kehinde Wiley for Deitch Gallery, Los Angeles, 2023; Systems to Emptiness, a prelude to Documenta 15, 2022; A Never Ending Longing, Circle Art Gallery, Cromwell Place, London, 2022; The Sources of Our Seas, Circle Art Gallery, 2021; East African Encounters, Cromwell Place, London, 2021. Other shows include: The Man with Two Shadows, Circle Art Gallery online, 2020; Yawning for Power, Tilleard Projects, 2019; The Stateless, Circle Art Gallery, 2018; Freedom, Flight, Refuge, Circle Art Gallery, 2017; Art Transposition Nairobi-Kampala-Hamburg, LKB Gallery, Hamburg; Pop-Up Africa, GAFRA, London, 2017; Out of the Slum, Essen, 2012.Mwangi has participated in residency programs in Kenya, Germany and Italy.