“I want to continue experimenting with different art forms while exploring various ways of talking about the human body and the pains, the pleasures and the fantasies, internally and externally, and how our bodies respond to all these and make adjustments against ourselves. “ - Joseph Obel
Joseph Obel had a two days exhibition of KUNDINYOTA 2.0 that interweaves photography, video art installation, soundscape art installation, and material design. The 2-day exhibition took place on July 22nd and 23rd at the auditorium of the Goethe Institut Nairobi. Exhibition. Obel reiterates that KUNDINYOTA 2.0 is a bridge to Kundinyota 1.0, a multimedia one-hander (one-person show) that Obel staged in July 2022 to highlight contemporary masculinity, detachment from religion and sexual identity and orientation from an African perspective.
The curation of KUNDINYOTA 2.0 was inspired by the idea of a homestead drawing from Obel’s upbringing in a culture of inviting and welcoming guests to one’s house to tell stories. The exhibition was segmented into various metaphoric parts.
The initial segment is the lounge, where you first meet Obel in his full playfulness on the video art installation. In the video, Obel is playing childhood games that he once enjoyed, breaking the barriers of gender roles and gender norms as he plays games that are known to be enjoyed by girls only, including Blada, Kati, and Brikicho, a game enjoyed by boys and girls alike.
After the reception, a flip of the ceiling-to-floor black curtains revealed the living room, and in this section, you meet Obel’s long white gown, “The Lord’s Bride Gown” that symbolizes Obel’s marriage to Christ through baptism, and his own divorce from Christianity and into an afro-spirituality. In this living room also are digital photos of Obel’s body, all in the nude, but they’re in small sizes and clustered in fours, with various intriguing captions.
Across from the photos and the gown, to the far left exists the sound installation station, with the sign “SOUND BOOTH” and further instructions that the invited guest should have their headphones on to enjoy Obel’s audio safari. The sounds are different letters Obel wrote to various recipients, starting with himself, then to his blurry-faced, missing dad, and to his society for always looking, sniffing, and questioning his being and existence. This is where Obel opens a can of nostalgia, fears, joy, childlikeness, and hard conversations. You could see the connection between the listener and the narrator by how everyone closed their eyes to listen to these epistles.
The last section of the exhibition is the revelation of Armageddon, a place Obel calls The Bedroom. It’s dark, eerie, and yet sultry. Once you flipped the curtain to reveal this section, you were greeted by the gigantic beautiful nude bodies of Obel, in his own unique chasms and rhythms. A symphony of pleasures, pains, and fantasies, displaying Obel’s sexuality and sensual touch, masculinity, joy, and grief of his long-gone father. You needed like 15 minutes in this section. To sit and process all your thoughts, imaginations, and questions after meeting Obel in his bedroom, bearing it all, withholding nothing.
In the words of Esther Kamba,
“I don’t feel dominated or conquered, all I see is beauty, a representation of both masculine and feminine energies.”
Obel gave an interactive artist talk during the opening reception of the exhibition. A talk that was moderated by the award-winning experimental theatre maker, Esther Kamba, who is Obel’s dramaturg and collaborator.
The central message that resulted from this discussion is being defiant and resilient and what it means for someone who constantly negotiates his existence in various polarized surroundings he finds himself in, where people are continuously othering you and staying watchful and ready to eliminate you for being the other.
Obel says a big Thank You to the Goethe Institut Kenia ( especially Sheila Akwany and Cristina Nord) and Maabara Atelier for making the exhibition happen and to Santuri Salon and Solstice for sound recording, and editing respectively. To Sella Wasikenda, John Paul Gitonga(JP) and Eric Otae for technical set up and to Ogutu Muraya, Chadota Sandra among other friends and kind acquaintances for set design.
Please contact jphochieng@gmail.com for more inquiries, chats, or gifts 😊.
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