SMAC Gallery presents Pandashuka, a solo exhibition of new sculptures in the Black Mamba series by Cyrus Kabiru. This exhibition is accompanied by an extended text written by Jens Hoffmann.

“The term “black mamba” is used in Nairobi to describe simple, typically black-framed, fix-gear bikes that swarmed the city during the 1980’s and 90’s. Used for transportation and business alike, the black mamba was a simple, sturdy, and ubiquitous fixture on Nairobi’s streets. In his sculptural series, Kabiru reimagines these bicycles that dominated his childhood, adding and subtracting elements to and from the simple black frames.

Kabiru’s attachment to the bicycle, and his insistence on its disappearance, points to a fascinating contradiction that we can trace throughout his practice – a tension between a visionary sort of futurity and a nostalgic desire for sameness that seem entangled in all of his creations.”

               – Excerpt from: Cyrus Kabiru: Future Vision, Frozen Past
by Jens Hoffmann

Pandashuka opens on Wednesday, 13 September at 17h30 until late as part of Gallery Night, and will be showing at SMAC Gallery Cape Town until 07 October 2017.

.

www.smacgallery.com

.

#cyruskabiru
#pandashuka
#smaccpt