Mimi Cherono Ng'ok Explained

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]

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. .
• 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]

Notes and References

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