inHarlem: Simone Leigh

Simone Leigh’s installation at The Studio Museum in New York is made of three structures, reminiscent of imba yokubikira (kitchen houses) from the rural areas of Zimbabwe.

Simone Leigh, A particularly elaborate imba yokubikira, or kitchen house, stands locked up while its owners live in diaspora, The Studio Museum, New york, 2016. Courtesy the artist, Luhring Augustine, New York, Studio Museum in Harlem, New York, NYC Parks, and Marcus Garvey Park Alliance

“InHarlem”, is a set of new initiatives at The Studio Museum, designed to explore dynamic ways to work in the community and take the institution beyond its walls with a wide range of artistic and programmatic ventures, from site-specific artists’ projects to collaborative presentations with civic and cultural partners in the Harlem neighborhood.

Simone Leigh is one of the artists shown during this year’s edition. The show sysynthesizes the multimedia artist’s recent forays into the public realm with her longstanding interest in African and African-American material culture and female identity. The installation, A particularly elaborate imba yokubikira, or kitchen house, stands locked up while its owners live in diaspora, inserts three structures, reminiscent of imba yokubikira (kitchen houses) from Shona-speaking rural areas of Zimbabwe, into the landscape of Marcus Garvey Park.

Approximating the scale and outer texture of the round, clay-and-thatch imba, the structures are arranged in a cluster to suggest a community; however, they are all without entrances, to both celebrate a diaspora and evoke the displacement it involves.

until 25 July 2017
inHarlem: Simone Leigh
The Studio Museum
144 West 125th Street, New York

inHarlem: Simone Leigh

Simone Leigh’s installation at The Studio Museum in New York is made of three structures, reminiscent of imba yokubikira (kitchen houses) from the rural areas of Zimbabwe.

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