Artwork: Charlene Komuntale. Photo gallery: Daniel Marks.
The Mill in Conversation
When: February 10, 6:45pm
Where: The Mill’s Sponsored Studio,154 Angas St, Kaurna Yarta
Cost: Free
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The Mill has two entrances, the main entrance on the corner of Angas and Gunson Street and an accessible entrance further down Angas Street.
Both doors are locked from the outside, there is a doorbell on the main door that will alert The Mill team. They will meet you at the accessible entrance to welcome you into the building.
The Mill has concrete flooring throughout with no internal steps and a disability toilet on site.
Read more in-depth information on our accessibility web page.
Join Ugandan artist Charlene Komuntale for a chat in her studio about work she is developing for the Sanaa exhibition at Kerry Packer Civic Gallery this February. Charlene is the current LK Artist in Residence, she will be spending 6 weeks living in Adelaide and working from a studio at The Mill supported by Sanaa. Charlene uses digital mediums to create stunning portraits of Black African women that centre empowerment, liberation and confidence. During the talk Charlene will chat about her practice, her subjects and use of symbolism in her portraiture.
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Charlene Komuntale is a digital artist and illustrator based in Kampala, Uganda. She holds a BA in Animation from Limkokwing University, Malaysia. In her recent series “Not Fragile”, Komuntale portrays women - mostly black African women.
The subject matter is personal yet presented in a relatable way as inspiration is drawn from her own experiences but also informed by the experiences of other women around her.
The heads of the women she portrays are covered by different elements, which create poetic yet striking narratives around a broadly relatable figure. At first sight, the works evoke a dreamy, peaceful, and quiet atmosphere, whereas at a closer look powerful, empowering and unapologetic messages come to the fore. Dominant, male-centered perspectives on women’s roles and supposedly nature-given capabilities and constraints attached to female bodies are being evaluated and re-examined. The juxtaposition of different elements creates an interesting asymmetry between awareness of self and the (male-centered) gaze of others. Intimacy, tenderness, vulnerability, and female beauty do not suggest fragility. Instead, it is related to strength and unapologetic confidence. Komuntale’s digital paintings deconstruct patriarchal narratives as shaped by culture, religion, and politics and provide a ground for inquiry and interrogation, and for visions of different futures.
Her compositional choices create a space at the edges of reality – moments frozen in time and filled with surreal elements and metaphorical and symbolical references.
The LK Artist in Residence Sponsored Studio is presented in partnership with Sanaa.
Sanaa aims to facilitate intercultural understanding by providing a platform to artists from culturally diverse backgrounds, with past exhibitions featuring international artists from many other cultures around the world, alongside Australian-based artists from Aboriginal, African, Middle Eastern and South American backgrounds.
The LK Artist in Residence is supported by Principal Partner LK Law.