Spotlight
Feature London-based visual artist Joy Yamusangie
Championed by Kaia Charles
Visual Arts
Above Trumpet by Joy Yamusangie
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Above Joy Yamusangie
Interview
Joy Yamusangie
Interview
Joy Yamusangie
NOW Gallery on Greenwich Peninsula has announced that ‘Feeling Good’ by Joy Yamusangie has been selected for its 2022 Young Artist Commission. Now in its fourth year, the Young Artist commission is awarded to outstanding rising talent in visual arts and illustration, and is co-curated by Kaia Charles. Charles and Yamusangie worked on creating a series of intimate and evocative spaces to immerse the viewer for ‘Feeling Good’.
Charles says: “Joy’s aura is that of quiet confidence. I’d not met them in person before working on this show but became aware of Joy’s work some years ago and remember thinking that their mark making conveyed an energy comparable to Basquiat’s work.
“The Young Artist Commission is a strand I’ve curated since 2018 and creates a platform for practitioners who are evolving and making significant strides in the visual arts. The commission focuses on bodies of work redefining the fields of illustration and fine art; giving visibility to a broader cohort of cross-disciplinary artists.”
Yamusangie’s autobiographical practice experiments with a range of traditional processes including drawing, film, painting and collaging to create mixed-media pieces that explore identity and self-expression. They say: “At the moment I’ve really been inspired by having more intimate and vulnerable conversations with friends. It’s just got me back into writing and making paintings that feature snippets of conversations and words I want to remember.”
For this latest exhibition, which will feature a mixture of paintings and print work they’ve created over the past two years, they’re transporting audiences to the Feeling Good Jazz Club. There will be an accompanying jazz score, revealing deeply personal narratives, and a piano, which visitors are welcome to play.
Kaia Charles adds: “Their exquisite, iconographic style challenges the mainstream gaze and the exhibition is Joy’s unfaltering vision; creating a space for freedom of expression. I love the storytelling that is imbued within the work. Joy’s evocative Feeling Good speaks of their personal narratives that draw in the viewer.
“The show is a series of experiential spaces that create a backdrop to the work. This exhibition is the result of a huge team effort and we feel privileged to bring Joy’s work to the NOW audience.”
‘Feeling Good’ is the latest project in a very successful two years for Yamusangie. They produced the award piece for the 2021 London Borough of Culture award, the cover for the 2021 Penguin edition of C. L. R. James’s Minty Alley and their work was also selected for the 2021 RA Summer Show.
‘Feeling Good’ will be free to view from 24 March – 5 June 2022 at NOW Gallery.
“The Young Artist Commission is a strand I’ve curated since 2018 and creates a platform for practitioners who are evolving and making significant strides in the visual arts. The commission focuses on bodies of work redefining the fields of illustration and fine art; giving visibility to a broader cohort of cross-disciplinary artists.”
Yamusangie’s autobiographical practice experiments with a range of traditional processes including drawing, film, painting and collaging to create mixed-media pieces that explore identity and self-expression. They say: “At the moment I’ve really been inspired by having more intimate and vulnerable conversations with friends. It’s just got me back into writing and making paintings that feature snippets of conversations and words I want to remember.”
For this latest exhibition, which will feature a mixture of paintings and print work they’ve created over the past two years, they’re transporting audiences to the Feeling Good Jazz Club. There will be an accompanying jazz score, revealing deeply personal narratives, and a piano, which visitors are welcome to play.
Kaia Charles adds: “Their exquisite, iconographic style challenges the mainstream gaze and the exhibition is Joy’s unfaltering vision; creating a space for freedom of expression. I love the storytelling that is imbued within the work. Joy’s evocative Feeling Good speaks of their personal narratives that draw in the viewer.
“The show is a series of experiential spaces that create a backdrop to the work. This exhibition is the result of a huge team effort and we feel privileged to bring Joy’s work to the NOW audience.”
‘Feeling Good’ is the latest project in a very successful two years for Yamusangie. They produced the award piece for the 2021 London Borough of Culture award, the cover for the 2021 Penguin edition of C. L. R. James’s Minty Alley and their work was also selected for the 2021 RA Summer Show.
‘Feeling Good’ will be free to view from 24 March – 5 June 2022 at NOW Gallery.
About the champion
Before joining Greenwich Peninsula’s team in 2014, Kaia Charles worked with the Victoria and Albert Museum’s Contemporary Programmes section, curating a variety of commissions. She has commissioned projects that explore urbanism, digital and cross-cultural visual culture. A firm believer that art and culture should be inclusive, she works to embed events, exhibitions and public art in creative neighbourhoods. When she’s not championing emerging artists, she also commissions site-specific art and architectural interventions for the public realm.
“[I] became aware of Joy’s work some years ago and remember thinking that their mark making conveyed an energy comparable to Basquiat’s work.”
Above A New Love by Joy Yamusangie
Above Joy Yamusangie
Above A Little Misunderstanding by Joy Yamusangie
Above Double Blues by Joy Yamusangie
Above A New Love by Joy Yamusangie
Above Joy Yamusangie
Above A Little Misunderstanding by Joy Yamusangie
Above Double Blues by Joy Yamusangie
