The exhibition FLIGHT unearths colonial history through artistic intervention

What happens when we sift through history and its dark repositories? The exhibition FLIGHT at Malmö Konsthall presents burning, critical and defiant artworks by Kudzanai Chiurai, Frida Orupabo and Eric Magassa. Through different modes of expression, the artists interrogate the colonial past and its echoes in our shared present. They challenge us to question how and what we see, and where we individually stand in relation to history. The exhibition, which opens at Malmö Konsthall on February 4th, is curated by Tawanda Appiah. Press preview on Thursday February 2nd.

FLIGHT is a group exhibition that brings together three contemporary artists who engage with themes of remembrance and reckoning. Kudzanai Chiurai’s work, The Library of Things We Forgot to Remember, transports us to Pan-African liberation struggles against colonial rule. Frida Orupabo presents a wide selection of collage works that depict abstracted figures, primarily Black women who have been unidentified and overlooked in historical archives. Eric Magassa’s large-scale installation features his signature use of vibrant colour, texture and sound.

The artists' works and practices challenge the dominant Western canon and the structures that still to a large extent shape the European art institutions, says Mats Stjernstedt, Director of Malmö Konsthall.

– Breaking these structures down has been an important part of the work of Malmö Konsthall in recent years, and we look forward to taking this conversation further through the exhibition FLIGHT, says Stjernstedt.

The exhibition is curated by Tawanda Appiah, a Zimbabwean independent curator based in Malmö. In the exhibition, he connects some of the most pressing issues of our time with stunning forms of visual representation.

– I have been following the work of Kudzanai Chiurai, Frida Orupabo and Eric Magassa for years. I enjoy their grasp of form, their way of painstaking worldmaking and the complex interrogations they bring to the surface. In my curatorial work I’m always looking at history, dealing with it as material and finding ways out of the colonial hangover in the creation of ‘an otherwise’, says Tawanda Appiah.

Looking back and forward

FLIGHT is formed through a range of mediums including collage, photography, sound, video and printed matter.

Kudzanai Chiurai lives and works in Zimbabwe. He is one of the most celebrated African contemporary artists. The exhibition FLIGHT brings his artwork The Library of Things We Forgot to Remember to Malmö for the first time. Founded in 2017, it is an itinerant audio and visual archive of Black resistance, solidarity and collaboration. The library houses an extensive collection of sound recordings and works on paper that are linked to various liberation movements of the African continent and beyond. During the exhibition period, the archive will be activated through the intervention of other artists.

Frida Orupabo, living and working in Oslo, presents a collection of collage works in the form of works on paper, video and sculpture. She has exhibited widely, including participating in the São Paulo Art Biennial (2021) and the Venice Biennale (2019). In her practice she explores questions related to race, family relations, gender, sexuality and violence. The figures in her works are taken from archives and collectively create a chorus of resistance. "Paying attention to what has happened in the past will give us a clearer understanding of the situation we are in now", says Frida Orupabo in her conversation with curator Tawanda Appiah in the publication produced for the exhibition.

Eric Magassa lives and works in Gothenburg and has familial ties in France and Senegal, which can be traced in his work. He explores issues of identity, its intermediary nature and its connection to memory and place. In this exhibition, he presents a selection of both new and previously created works from his oeuvre including The Lost Series. His approach is that of dislocating narratives, regularly using the African mask as an object of contention. Magassa speaks back to art history by asking questions and reappropriating archival material.

Press preview and opening

Press preview on Thursday, February 2nd at 11am, at Malmö Konsthall. Mats Stjernstedt, Tawanda Appiah, Kudzanai Chiurai & Eric Magassa will be present. Register to heidi.hakala@malmo.se no later than January 27th.

The exhibition opens with a public opening on Friday February 3rd at 7pm. Together with the artists, curator Tawanda Appiah will give an artist talk on Saturday, February 4th, and director of Malmö Konsthall Mats Stjernstedt a guided tour on Sunday February 5th. On Wednesday, February 8th, The Library of Things We Forgot to Remember will be activated by Kudzanai Chiurai and local artists at 6pm.

Press images available with the password "press2023"

More about the exhibition FLIGHT here

For more information or interview requests, contact:

Heidi Hakala
Communications manager Malmö Konsthall
+46(0)70 149 3019
heidi.hakala@malmo.se