A dominating presence in the exhibition is the huge sculptural gestalt of a ceremonial elephant, donned in cut and sewn together Oxford gowns. Shown for the first time in his recent exhibition at Modern Art Oxford the sculpture is based on an important “mask” character from the rituals of Kambalu’s native Chewa culture. The Nyau have many masks representing different characters and animals, but after Kasiya Maliro (the Great Mother antelope), the Njovu (elephant) is the most important structure of the ceremony, representing the father ancestor and chief. Here the sculpture is stately and commanding, dignified yet comic.

Against the walls of the gallery lean large-scale illuminated placards recalling vintage cinema signage. In the place of feature presentation information, the texts describe mysterious narratives. Like enigmatic haikus they paraphrase Kambalu’s video works presented elsewhere in the exhibition. The video works themselves are short absurdist vignettes that suggest found footage from early cinema and loop like broken film reels. Kambalu’s ‘Nyau Cinema’ is characterised by spontaneity, playfulness and a non-linear approach to time.

Kambalu describes the formation of syncretic culture as an act of ‘détournement’ – similar to the Situationist strategy of revaluation. He uses this approach in his “Dandy Gum Flags” - prints of fictional flag forms arising from his childhood memory of swapping and matching games with bubblegum wrappers embellished with flags of the world, as well as his “Beni Flags” - sewn cotton flags which hang like sovereign banners. These national and sovereign emblems are manipulated and dissected using a smartphone app to create images that recall vernacular of geometric Western abstract painting, as well as the vibrant colours and bold patterning of West African textiles.

Samson Kambalu is an artist and writer working in a variety of media, including site-specific installation, video, performance and literature. Kambalu was recently awarded the highly prestigious commission for the 4th Plinth in London’s Trafalgar Square. Recent and ongoing solo exhibitions of note include Culturgest, Lisbon, Modern Art Oxford, Peer UK, London and a two person exhibition with Vincent Meessen at Kunstmuseum Mu.zee, Oostende. He has been featured in major exhibitions and projects worldwide, including the Athens Biennale (2021), Dakar Biennale (2014, 2016), Tokyo International Art Festival (2009) and the Liverpool Biennial (2004, 2016). He was included in All the World’s Futures, Venice Biennale 2015, curated by Okwui Enwezor. More recently Kambalu was the Malawi Cultural Consultant for the film The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind and translated the script into Chichewa. He also appears in the film as the shopkeeper Joe Godsten. Kambalu studied at the University of Malawi (BA Fine Art and Ethnomusicology); Nottingham Trent University (MA Fine Art) and Chelsea College of Art and Design (PhD Fine Art). Kambalu, who began his academic career at the University of Malawi, has won research fellowships with Yale University and the Smithsonian Institution, and is an associate professor of Fine Art at Ruskin School of Art, and a fellow at Magdalen College, Oxford University.