Kapwani Kiwanga: Kinjiketile Suite, South London Gallery

Canadian artist Kapwani Kiwanga has already been nominated for two BAFTAs for her work which unpicks oral histories, and has exhibited at renowned venues like the Centre Pompidou in Paris and the Glasgow Centre of Contemporary Art. Now Kiwanga turns her fascination of unravelling histories towards the story of the Maji Maji 1905 uprising in German East Africa for her new show at South London Gallery.
South London Gallery exhibition
The violent revolution of the Maji Maji tribe in Tanganyika has inspired Kiwanga's new work, which weaves together stories, ephemera and archival material all within a specially designed exhibition space at the Camberwell gallery. At the centre is the myth of the spiritual medium, Kinjiketile, and his secret weapon against the colonial oppressors - a sacred water that made all that drank it invincible to German bullets. While the uprising wasn't a success, Kiwanga explores the legacy of the violence and its long social effect on the people and farming culture. Kiwanga also fills the South London Gallery with blossoming Tanzanian castor oil plants, which apparently were one of the ingredients that made Kinjiketile's sacred water.
Kiwanga explores how history transforms into myth in this new exhibition at South London Gallery, revelling in the way that the story of the Maji Maji has lived on.