Accomplice: Michael Armitage
13 May 2020
Magazine C& Magazine
1 min read
Accomplice brings together a series of eight paintings and nine preparatory ink drawings by Kenyan artist Michael Armitage created over a two year period beginning in 2017. Presented for the first time as a complete cycle, the catalyst for these works were events connected to the 2017 Kenyan General Elections. At the time, Armitage travelled …
Accomplice brings together a series of eight paintings and nine preparatory ink drawings by Kenyan artist Michael Armitage created over a two year period beginning in 2017. Presented for the first time as a complete cycle, the catalyst for these works were events connected to the 2017 Kenyan General Elections. At the time, Armitage travelled to Uhuru Park, in Nairobi, to witness a major rally that was being staged by the country’s main opposition party. The observations made at this rally, in addition to images culled from social and broadcast media, are the basis for paintings that engage the Kenyan body politic. These perceptions, filtered through the artist’s oneiric vision, open up multiple narrative and conceptual possibilities.
Installation view of Michael Armitage: Accomplice at Norval Foundation. Courtesy Norval Foundation, Cape Town. Photo: Michael Hall, Cape Town.
Michael Armitage, The Fourth Estate, 2017. Courtesy Norval Foundation, Cape Town
Installation view of Michael Armitage: Accomplice at Norval Foundation. Courtesy Norval Foundation, Cape Town. Photo: Michael Hall, Cape Town.
Michael Armitage, Pathos and the twilight of the idle, 2019. Courtesy Norval Foundation, Cape Town
Installation view of Michael Armitage: Accomplice at Norval Foundation. Courtesy Norval Foundation, Cape Town. Photo: Michael Hall, Cape Town.
Michael Armitage, Mkokoteni, 2019. Courtesy Norval Foundation, Cape Town
Installation view of Michael Armitage: Accomplice at Norval Foundation. Courtesy Norval Foundation, Cape Town. Photo: Michael Hall, Cape Town.
Michael Armitage, The promise of change, 2018. Courtesy Norval Foundation, Cape Town
Installation view of Michael Armitage: Accomplice at Norval Foundation. Courtesy Norval Foundation, Cape Town. Photo: Michael Hall, Cape Town.
Michael Armitage, The promised land, 2019. Courtesy Norval Foundation, Cape Town
Installation view of Michael Armitage: Accomplice at Norval Foundation. Courtesy Norval Foundation, Cape Town. Photo: Michael Hall, Cape Town.
Michael Armitage, The Dumb Oracle, 2019. Courtesy Norval Foundation, Cape Town
Installation view of Michael Armitage: Accomplice at Norval Foundation. Courtesy Norval Foundation, Cape Town. Photo: Michael Hall, Cape Town.
Michael Armitage, The Chicken Thief, 2019. Courtesy Norval Foundation, Cape Town
Installation view of Michael Armitage: Accomplice at Norval Foundation. Courtesy Norval Foundation, Cape Town. Photo: Michael Hall, Cape Town.
Read more from
Rest in/as Freedom: kiarita and Black Politics of Liberation
Modupeola Fadugba Wins The Norval Sovereign African Art Prize 2025
Elolo Bosoka: What he saw sees when he went goes strolling
Read more from
Nairobi Contemporary Art Institute (NCAI)
Michael Armitage Receives the 6th Ruth Baumgarte Art Award
