In collaboration with hiphophuis, Kunsthal Rotterdam is presenting the exhibition ‘Staying Power. Hiphophuis invites Lakwena’. Following earlier collaborations – including the successful exhibition ‘Street Dreams’ –, these two Rotterdam-based cultural tastemakers will now reconnect on the occasion of the twentieth anniversary of the hiphophuis and the thirtieth anniversary of the Kunsthal. The artist Lakwena Maciver (1986, United Kingdom) has been invited to create new work as part of her series Jump Paintings. From this autumn, this series of abstract portraits – inspired by world-famous basketball players – will be shown in the Kunsthal’s HALL 3.
Lakwena’s Jump Paintings pay tribute to the most inspiring basketball players from past and present, including Shaquille O'Neil, Kyrie Irving en Kevin Durant. For the abstract portraits, Lakwena uses the basketball court as a canvas on which she symbolically represents the players in kaleidoscopic patterns and neon colours. She takes the physical characteristics of the basketball players as her starting point: each painting is the same height as the player. Lakwena’s work is characterised by bold graphics and profound messages. In her Jump Paintings she uses texts relating to the players and references to themes like decolonisation, redemption, and paradise.
Staying Power
The hiphophuis celebrates its 20th anniversary this year with the theme Staying Power. With this theme the hiphophuis focuses on how to stay physically and mentally fit as an individual and a community in a constantly changing world. In a time when society has had to reinvent itself after the pandemic, Lakwena’s work acts as a guiding light. This is the ideal moment for the hiphophuis to invite Lakwena and ask her to expand her existing series Jump Paintings with new work.
Lakwena
Lakwena - the artist name of Lakwena Maciver - graduated in graphic design from the London College of Communication in 2009. Her work consists of large murals, panel paintings, textile works and installations. She uses the effective visual language of the advertising world in her work, replacing the commercial slogans with pertinent messages. In doing so, Lakwena explores and subverts ideas relating to decolonisation, redemption, escapism, spirituality, and Afrofuturism. Her murals can be
found in cities like Los Angeles, London, and Dubai, and her work has also been shown at venues such as Tate Britain, Somerset House, and Southbank Centre in London.
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