Following its first presentation at Kunsthaus Bregenz (KUB) in 2025, this travelling exhibition arrives at the Nairobi Contemporary Art Institute (NCAI) for its second iteration, extending an intergenerational and transcontinental artistic dialogue between Michael Armitage, Maria Lassnig, and Chelenge Van Rampelberg.
The exhibition unites three distinct, resonant voices whose practices share a sustained engagement with the human condition; corporeality, vulnerability, relationships, and place in the world. Featuring drawings and lithographs by Michael Armitage, drawings by Maria Lassnig, and prints and sculptures by Chelenge Van Rampelberg, the presentation marks the first time works by both Armitage and Lassnig have been shown in Nairobi.
Conceived through conversations between Michael Armitage and Thomas D. Trummer during preparations for his 2023 exhibition at KUB, the project reflects Armitage’s deep regard for Maria Lassnig, whom he has described as one of the most important painters of all time, as well as his long-standing relationship with Chelenge Van Rampelberg, one of Kenya’s most accomplished artists, who is also, to him, a mentor, teacher, and friend. The selection of works shaped by Armitage himself, foregrounds influence, lineage and artistic affinity.
​
The three artists share a fascination with the human body and how it exists in the world. Each returns to questions of physical experience—how we feel, connect, suffer and belong—using the body as a way to explore what it means to be human. Though their work has developed in different places and times, they are united by this empathetic focus on our shared corporeal existence. At NCAI, this second iteration of the exhibition offers a renewed context for these converging perspectives, situating the dialogue within Nairobi and extending its relevance to local and global audiences.
The exhibition is presented in partnership with Kunsthaus Bregenz, the Maria Lassnig Foundation, the Federal Ministry of Austria and the Austrian Embassy Mission in Nairobi.
© Michael Armitage, Study(Hands and Camel’s Head).
Michael Armitage
​
Michael Armitage (b. 1984, Kenya) contributes watercolours that navigate pain, political tension and moments of profound tenderness, particularly toward animals. His compositions, rendered in warm sepia tones, reveal a refined technical precision and emotional sensitivity. Through layered washes and carefully articulated shadows, Armitage constructs spaces that feel at once fragile and animated. In Mydas (2019), he reimagines the myth of King Midas to reflect on desire, power and consequence: a naked male figure gazes upon a mother and child draped in gold, while a hyena, an ambiguous witness, observes from the margins.
© Maria Lassnig, Antlitz des Gebirges (Visage of the Mountain), 1993
Maria Lassnig
​
Maria Lassnig (1919–2014) is known for an inward-looking practice focused on bodily sensation and perception. Rather than depicting the body as a fixed external form, Lassnig renders it as a site of lived experience, a resonant space shaped by emotion, memory and biography. In works such as Owning a Dog (1976), from the Kunsthaus Bregenz collection, Lassnig confronts the viewer directly. The dog she holds becomes at once companion, mirror and symbolic presence, situating the self within a web of attachment and coexistence.
© Chelenge Van Rampelberg, Mama Kali, 1995
Chelenge Van Rampelberg
​
Chelenge Van Rampelberg (b. 1961, Kenya) is represented through a focused selection of woodcuts and wooden sculptures. Her works, male heads with pursed mouths, upright female figures and quietly expressive forms, convey a profound sensitivity to inner states and relational dynamics. Figures such as Eve I (1996) embody a delicate balance between tension and grace, worry and hope. Across her practice, Chelenge explores intimacy and vulnerability through softened contours and restrained gestures, evoking relationships between human beings, nature and the living world.