“...if we take Kiwanga to be a pseudo-ethnographer operating through the vehicle of the visual arts, then her work follows the advances made in anthropological discourse by recognizing the contingent nature of research and the possibilities of multiple interpretations.“ —Yesomi Umolu, p68

This publication was co-produced by The Power Plant and the Logan Center Exhibitions, University of Chicago, in conjunction with Kapwani Kiwanga's exhibitions The sum and its parts at the Logan Center Exhibitions, presented 20 January - 12 March 2017, and A wall is just a wall at The Power Plant Contemporary Art Gallery, presented 28 January - 17 May 2017.

Kapwani Kiwanga’s practice is research-driven and informed by her investigations of social and political history, with works in a variety of materials and mediums including video, photography, performance, installation and sculpture. Her work examines power structures ever-pervasive throughout history and places them side-by-side with contemporary realities. Often taking an academic or documentary approach at first, Kiwanga’s initial research is then presented in nuanced and imaginative narratives which play on truth by blending fact and fiction.

The book includes texts by Samia Henni and Yesomi Umolu, and a conversation between Kapwani Kiwanga and Carolin Köchling.

Product Information

Author(s): Kapwani Kiwanga

Publisher: The Power Plant, University of Chicago Press

Year: 2017

Pages: 80

Illustrations: 56 colour, 8 black and white illustrations