Thenjiwe Niki Nkosi’s Art Honors Black Performers at Rest

On View: A Mural That Honors Black Performers at Rest

In the lobby of the Hammer Museum in Los Angeles, the South African painter Thenjiwe Niki Nkosi has installed a large-scale mural of a group of Black gymnasts.

I spoke with Nkosi about the parallels between athletics and making art →

Thenjiwe Niki Nkosi in her studio. Courtesy of the artist and Stevenson Cape Town, Johannesburg, Amsterdam. Photo: Nina Lieska

In Nkosi’s mural “Arena V,” six athletes gather “between, after or before” gymnastics events, the artist says, sharing a moment of relaxation.

Each figure is faceless. “They don’t owe you a moment of regard. They don’t owe you a moment of performance,” Nkosi says. “For me, [“Arena V”] is a flat-out and loving refusal of any of that.”

An installation view of Nkosi's "Arena V" (2024) at the Hammer Museum in Los Angeles. Courtesy of the artist and Stevenson Cape Town, Johannesburg, Amsterdam. Photo: Jeff McLane

Several of Nkosi’s previous works focus on the minutiae of athletes’ routines — gymnasts stretching or runners strolling in their warm-up gear — to explore questions of what intimate community looks like for those who are constantly observed by spectators.

“I’m interested in bodily storytelling, like where a hand is, the [implied] directionality of somebody’s gaze,” she says, “how much I can convey without using a face.”

Nkosi, "Protocol" (2022). Photo: Nina Lieska

“Arena V” is Nkosi’s largest work to date, spanning several walls. Over two weeks, she and a group of collaborators — including Andrew Nobbs, Zena Zendajas, Chris Martoccia and Adam Peña — drew and painted it, based on scaled-down versions.

The installation also includes an audio recording of announcers’ voices and applause, co-designed by the artist and music producer Dion Monti, to “re-create the reverberation and sounds of the gymnasium,” Nkosi says.

An exhibition rendering of "Arena V." Photo: Gabriel Noguez

“A gymnast is surrounded by people who help them become the best that they can be,” Nkosi says. “I feel the same way about art making. All of my studio partners and community members have contributed to the work that I do.”

Nkosi and Andrew Nobbs. Artwork: courtesy of Nkosi and Stevenson Cape Town, Johannesburg, Amsterdam. Photo: Gabriel Noguez

For the past few years, Nkosi has watched archival videos of gymnastics events as she builds on her “Gymnasium” series.

In addition, “I’m now doing a lot of research into the 1960 Olympics and looking at the experiences of Black athletes through the decades,” the artist says. “[I’m] looking particularly at African trans and intersex athletes whose bodies are being surveilled, policed or excluded from competition.”

Nkosi, "Gala (Rejoicing)" (2023). Photo: Nina Lieska

Since high school, Nkosi has also drawn inspiration from the South African artist Mmakgabo Helen Sebidi. “Her purposeful arrangement of human figures, animals and objects has [influenced] the way I think about the relationship between figures in my own work,” she says.

Sebidi’s colorful renderings of life in South Africa contrasted with Nkosi’s otherwise Eurocentric curriculum. The work “blew up” her ideas, she says, of “what painting needed to be.”

Mmakgabo Helen Sebidi, “Mangwano Olshara Thipa Kabhaleng (The Child’s Mother Holds the Sharp Side of the Knife)” (1988-89). Collection of Iziko South African National Gallery. Courtesy of the artist and Everard Read Gallery

On View highlights works by Black artists, who have traditionally faced a disproportionately uphill battle in having their work exhibited by mainstream institutions.