ETHNOMODERN: Namsa Leuba

Art Twenty One is pleased to present a solo exhibition by Swiss-Guinean artist Namsa Leuba entitled Ethnomodern, November 5, 2016-January 10, 2017. As the first large-scale solo exhibition of Leuba’s work, this exhibition brings together the artist’s diverse photographic practice that spans documentary, fashion and performance.

Ethnomodern will include multiple projects executed over the last five years that highlight the artist’s complex visual language. Leuba’s seminal series, Ya Kala Ben, explores ritual artifacts and statuettes that are common to the cosmology of Guineans in their ceremonial structure. Namsa Leuba transforms these objects through performative images with members of the local community, reenacting their symbols. In the Zulu Kids series, Leuba worked with children in the Zulu communities in Kwala Zulu Natal and Soweto in South Africa. Namsa Leuba creates staged photographs that blend the characters, landscapes and traditions of diverse African cultures. While the series references statuettes, with the children posing.