Cover image : Sthenjwa Luthuli, Untold Stories, 2020 Hand carved wood & 149 x 198cm, courtesy of Unit London
London based Gallery Unit London recently announced the upcoming opening of their exhibition The Medium is the Message — a group show 18 emerging artists exploring the role pigment and blackness plays in the expression of identity through artistic mediums. Set to open on October 2nd, the showcased has been curated by Azu Nwagbogu with the aid of assistant curators Wunika Mukan & Jana Terblanche. With the work of Wonder Buhle Mbambo, Ngozi Schommers, Barry Yusufu among many others the exhibition tells the story of a world which stigmatises Blackness & Brownness while simultaneously celebrating its cultural fruits. Each artist throughout the exhibition approaches this from unique angles, names like Collins Obijiaku for example uses portraiture, domestic settings and seemingly mundane scenes to reflect notions of identity with compositions. While many of the other artists challenge stereotypes and politicised images of black and brown people by focusing on traditions ritual and familial bonds.
Wonder Buhle Mbambo, Umthobisi, 2020 , Acrylic on canvas, 100 x 100 cm, courtesy of Unit London 
Ojingiri Peter Outside the Indoor, 2020 Oil, pastel, and charcoal on canvas 152.5 x 122 cm, courtesy of Unit London
Eniwaye Oluwaseyi, A Branch and Two, 2020, Oil and acrylic on canvas, 100 x 80 cm, courtesy of Unit London 
Ludovic Nkoth, Holding On To Memories, 2020, Acrylic on canvas, 101.6 x 76.2 cm courtesy of Unit London 
Manyaku Mashilo Sefela sa Kwantu, Invocation, 2020 Charcoal, ink, acrylic ink and paint on paper 100 x 70 cm courtesy of Unit London
‘While representation is important, it is empty if it is not succeeded by unfettered existence. This exhibition veers away from the performative power of the image and ponders existence beyond representation. The Blackness presented here is authentic, quiet, and confident. It rejects the societal gaze whereby Blackness is inextricably linked to majesty or misery with very little gradation between the two, their art unveils many facets of black existence that encompass play, solitude, contemplation and a range of human experience with approaches that do not kowtow to exoticism, but rather reflect the communities from whence they were birthed,’ explained curator Azu Nwagbogu .
For the full list of artists and further information about the exhibit visit theunitldn.com
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