Thandiwe Muriu at Art Rotterdam
193 Gallery (Paris | Saint-Tropez | Venice) will present a solo installation by Thandiwe Muriu at Art Rotterdam. In her vivid “Camo" series, the Kenyan artist employs the renowned wax textile to make her subjects a canvas for reflection on identity, representation, and female empowerment.
Produced since 1876 in the Netherlands by the historic textile house, Vlisco, wax has been worn, shared, reinterpreted, and emotionally invested in by many generations across the African continent. Through everyday life - celebrations, rituals, family moments - it has become deeply embedded in social norms and practices, making it a widely accepted symbol of ‘Africanness’ despite its controversial history. For Muriu, the fabric emphasises the various ways in which the past continues to shape the present as she considers how women today can thrive - not in spite of their cultural legacies, but through them.
Vlisco developed its production by adapting colouring techniques from Javanese batik makers in the former Dutch East Indies. The prints were detached from their original symbolism and industrially produced in the Netherlands using a modified banknote printing machine, known as 'La Javanaise'. African countries became the primary market for these fabrics. For the fair, 193 Gallery will incorporate original Vlisco textiles into the booth display bringing Muriu’s work into direct relation with the local and global histories embedded in the material, while anchoring the installation within Rotterdam’s role as an international trading city.
In 2024, 193 Gallery presented Muriu’s work in 'Passengers in Transit', a Collateral Event of the 60th Venice Biennale. This was followed by presentations at Museum Folkwang, Biennale della Fotografia Femminile, Musée de l’Homme, Museo Nacional de la Fotografía and a group exhibition curated by Pharrell Williams at Perrotin in Paris. This year, Muriu was selected for the KYOTOGRAPHIE International Photography Festival African Artist Residency Program.
