Using gymnastic performance as an allegory for artistic practice, Thenjiwe Niki Nkosi underpins elegant, architectural compositions with a pointed redress of place, performance and the politicisation of bodies.
Realised in a refined palette of pink, blue and damson, Landing unites the abstract and figurative elements of the artist's practice, featuring her emblematic gymnast alongside two seated spectators.
"I have been thinking about landings as a metaphor for my own relationship with my work. So much depends on the landing. A successful landing - elegant, stable, safe - is possible only through balance: physical, mental, emotional. In this work, the gymnast has an ankle injury. She is vulnerable. Yet she presses through the pain to compete."
The print arrives in a variety of configurations – a standalone print and an expanded triptych edition, 10 of which have been lovingly hand-finished by the artist in gold.
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