(selected by Claire Doherty)
The Nightingale, 2003
A head emerges, tantalisingly revealing lips, half a nose. Ndiritu's eyes are closed for a long time; it's trance-like, almost meditative. Then the beat of the African soundtrack changes, the screen flips into colour and the red cloth with white flowers becomes a dancer in the artist's hands as she wraps it around her head in a series of movements that transform it into a turban, a burka, a head scarf, a shawl. In the space of a few minutes she references everything from 1950s housewife to twenty-first-century rap artist, from Egyptian belly dancer to Irish Peig. In quick succession, her actions spark thoughts of the relationship between women and fabric: it constrains as a gag or blindfold, it enhances beauty as a fashion tool, it can be a weapon of oppression, it can preserve modesty, it's something to hide behind. Ndiritu's playful eyes, fast movements and various entanglements deliver a many-layered message. This is Ndiritu's acclaimed video 'The Nightingale'. (Claire Doherty).
Grace Ndiritu states that her purpose as an artist is 'to rewrite history through the immediacy of Performance Video Art. It is an attempt to give back what has been taken from those who lack power: their dignity'. Ndiritu's provocative films are as wide-ranging in their preoccupation with global politics as they are deeply personal and introspective. She cleverly manoeuvres the viewer in and out of her subject matter, using imagery, music and text that is concurrently sensual and familiar, awkward and disturbing. In this way, Ndiritu seems to implicate each viewer individually while simultaneously reminding us of the wider context in which we live, love, work, play and survive.
In her solo show at Delfina Studio, London (November 2005) Ndiritu presented three works, 'Time' (2004), 'Desert Storm' (2004) and 'Absolut Native' (2003). In each of the videos Ndiritu is physically present, 'performing politics' by using her body as a powerful tool to reflect wider society's concerns on issues of globalization, war and the systematic use of rape against women. This powerful, performative constant forces the viewer to grapple with Ndiritu's concerns, in particular the discourses surrounding sexual, political and economic freedoms.
Upcoming at the Chisenhale Gallery 2007
Ndiritu's first major solo exhibition is scheduled for January 2007 at the Chisenhale Gallery, London. An installation of video works - 'Still Life' (2005) and 'Responsible Tourism' (2005) - Ndiritu plans to 'lead the viewer on a journey of creative discovery through ideas of formalism, painting, textiles and world music. Their initiation into a new understanding of video art will be through the organic re-examining of 1) the use of North African textiles in my Performance videos and 2) the effects of Western anthropology and globalization on the nomadic people of North Africa'. (Ndiritu).
April 2006
Biography
Grace Ndiritu was born in 1976 in Birmingham and lives and works in London. She studied at Winchester School of Art, London; De Ateliers, Amsterdam; and had a UK studio residency at Delfina Studios, London (2004-2006).
Her 'Hand-crafted videos' and 'Video Paintings' have been widely exhibited, recent solo shows at the Chisenhale Gallery, London (2007), the 51st Venice Biennale (2005) and Ikon Gallery, Birmingham (2005). Recent group shows include those at the International Center of Photography, New York (2009), Studio Museum Harlem, New York (2008), Dakar Biennale, Senegal (2008). Her work is housed in private collections in the USA and Europe and museums collections such as the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York.
Further information
Still Life: Four studies of the human body and North African textilesAfter seeing the Royal Academy exhibition Matisse, his art and his textiles exhibition, the similarity in our working process was reaffirmed. Both of us collect textiles and use them as... read on
Grace Ndiritu, Oratario di San Ludovico, VeniceIn summer 2005 Ndiritu's powerful videos - 'The Nightingale' (2004) and 'Desert Storm' (2004) - were installed in the ruined Oratario di San Ludovico at the 51st Venice Biennale, a collaboration... read on
Responsible TourismThis installation looks at how Western and African people relate to each other through the medium of photography and film and video. The pieces reference stereotypical images of poverty in Africa... read on
