Mimi Cherono Ng'ok

Mimi Cherono Ng'ok (born 1983) is a Kenyan photographer, living in Nairobi.^[1][2][3] Her "photographs are a visual diary of the experiences and emotions emerging from her itinerant life".^[4] Ng'ok's work has been shown at the Hayward Gallery, Berlin Biennale, Carnegie International and African Photography Encounters,^[5] and is held in the Walther Collection.

Early life and education

Ng'ok grew up in the rural outskirts of Nairobi, Kenya.^[6] In 2006 she graduated with a BFA from the Michaelis School of Fine Art at the University of Cape Town in South Africa.^[1][7]

Photography

Her 2008 series I am Home, on African immigrants living in South Africa, deals with "issues of home, displacement, loss, and identity".^[7][8] A project begun in 2013, made in countries where she has lived and travelled, was described by Alexandra Genova in Time as "a series of vignettes on memory, loss and lust revealed through Ng'ok's experiences." Given that Ng'ok believes home is not a place, but a state of mind, Genova wrote that the work "explores this temporality through the intersection of people and place".^[6] Diane Smyth in the British Journal of Photography described Ng'ok's work in an exhibition called Africa State of Mind as giving "a personal interpretation of place, in contrast to the apparently objective lens of documentary photography".^[9]

Everyone is Lonely in Kigali was made in Dakar, Accra, Berlin, Abidjan, Kampala, Kigali, Nairobi and Johannesburg and includes her frequently used subject matter: trees, the tropics, horses and an unidentified male figure.^[10] The series Do You Miss Me? Sometimes, Not Always, was made over six months after October 2014, in the cities of Kigali, Abidjan, Kampala, and Nairobi in memory of her friend Thabiso Sekgala, who died.^[11]

Publications with contributions by Ng'ok

• Voices: a Compilation of Testimonials: African Artists Living and Working in Cape Town and Surrounds. Cape Town: African Arts Institute, 2011. Edited by Rucera Seethal. ISBN 9780986989667.
• Peregrinate: Field Notes on Time Travel and Space. South Africa: Goethe-Institut, 2013. By Ng'ok, Thabiso Sekgala and Musa N. Nxumalo.

Group exhibitions

• Peregrinate: Field Notes on Time Travel and Space, Makerere Art Gallery, Makerere University, Kampala, Uganda, 2015. Work by Ng'ok, Thabiso Sekgala and Musa N. Nxumalo.^[12]
• African Photography Encounters, Bamako, Mali, 2015. Included her series Do You Miss Me? Sometimes, Not Always^[5]
• Academy of Arts, Berlin, Berlin Biennale, 2018^[13]
• Carnegie International, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, 2018^{[14][15][16][17]}
• Africa State of Mind, New Art Exchange, Nottingham, UK, 2018^[9]
• S'thandwa Sami (My Beloved), Hayward Gallery, London, 2019. Work by Ng'ok and Thabiso Sekgala.^[18]

Collections

Ng'ok's work is held in the following permanent collections:

• Walther Collection: 30 prints (as of April 2021)^[4][19]

Awards

• 2017: Winner, Photo London Artproof Award, for her series Everyone is Lonely in Kigali^[10]
• 2017: Grant, Magnum Foundation Fund^[20]

References

1. "Mimi Cherono Ng'ok's best photograph: a new perspective on male bodies". The Guardian. 30 May 2018. Retrieved 2021-04-02.
2. Rodney, Seph (9 June 2017). "A Photographer Who Uses Color to Hint at Her Own Presence". Hyperallergic. Retrieved 2021-04-02.
3. "Platform Africa". Aperture (227): 74–79. 2017.
4. "Cherono Ng'ok, Mimi - Walther Collection". Walther Collection. Retrieved 2021-04-02.
5. "Exhibitions and programme announced". www.e-flux.com. Retrieved 2021-04-02.
6. "A Pilgrimage of Self Discovery in Africa". Time. 20 June 2017. Retrieved 2021-04-02.
7. "The Art of Mimi Cherono Ng'ok". africasacountry.com. Retrieved 2021-04-02.
8. "I am home". www.citysharing.ch. Retrieved 2021-04-02.
9. "A new wave of photographers in Africa State of Mind". British Journal of Photography. Retrieved 2021-04-02.
10. "Photo London Artproof Award Winner: Mimi Cherono Ng'ok". Photo London. 25 May 2017. Retrieved 2021-04-02.
11. "Mimi Cherono Ng'ok". Contemporary And. Retrieved 2021-04-02.
12. "Peregrinate – Field notes of time travel and space". 14 March 2018. Retrieved 2021-04-02.
13. "Mimi Cherono Ng'ok". bb10.berlinbiennale.de. Retrieved 2021-04-02.
14. "The Carnegie Museum announces first round of commissions in the 57th Carnegie International". www.theartnewspaper.com. August 2018. Retrieved 2021-04-02.
15. Mandanici, Sabrina (11 December 2018). "Carnegie International, 57th Edition". The Brooklyn Rail. Retrieved 2021-04-02.
16. "Carnegie Museum of Art exterior will be canvas for four artists". Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. Retrieved 2021-04-02.
17. "Thaddeus Mosley among artists in Carnegie International 2018". Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. Retrieved 2021-04-02.
18. "S'thandwa Sami (My Beloved)". Black History Month. 14 February 2008. Retrieved 2021-04-02.
19. Meyers, William (19 February 2016). "Africa, Appalachia and Exquisite Edifices". Wall Street Journal. ISSN 0099-9660. Retrieved 2021-04-02.
20. "Magnum Foundation Fund Announces New Grant Winners". Time. 23 March 2017. Retrieved 2021-04-02.