‘In Vitro’: Life viewed from inside a bottle
Friday December 20 2019
'Healing Series' by Leo Coimbra. PHOTO | KARI MUTU | NMG
Two dimensional art work dominates here so it is refreshing to see a display of three dimensional art. In Vitro is an exhibition and installation by Brazilian artist Leo Coimbra.
The Creativity Gallery of the Nairobi National Museum is occupied with her recent and older works, and present a retrospective review of Coimbra’s life.
In Vitro refers to reproductive fertilisation outside the body in a glass container. Coimbra’s installations feature dozens of recycled glass bottles filled with fragments collected over the years.
Glass jars and bottles have stones, coloured beads, coral and twigs. Around them are set small toys, figurines, Disney characters, a looking glass and other curiosities.
Tiny giraffes stare at the bottles as though musing at the contents. You find yourself leaning for a closer look and imagining as story behind them, like the make believe world of children.
One plinth has several bottles of colourful plastic ropes. They are pretty until Coimbra tells you that she collected them on the beaches of Kenya.
Other bottles have paper cut-outs around certain themes such as famous artist, parts of the human body, or miniatures of Coimbra’s previous paintings.
Coimbra, who is currently resident in Kenya, comes from a mixed lineage of Portuguese, German and African ancestry and has lived in many countries.
Her diverse life is reflected in mementos from different countries. Mixed media paintings hang on the walls. The Prayer Flags series was inspired by the Tibetan tradition of colourful cloths inscribed with prayers. The Box Series suggest staged scenes or frozen moments in time.
A blue box called Our Lady of the End of the World has statue of a robed woman. It resembles a Catholic devotional shrine but with a Chinese statue and plastic locusts.
Coimbra created the Healing Series of canvas-covered wood paintings as a therapeutic art tribute for a sick friend. Painted in beige, gold, soft greens and blush red they have a soothing appearance, with circular images and plant forms evoking the circle of life imagery.
Coimbra took up art in the 1990s and is entirely self-taught, amazing considering the quality and diversity of her work. In Vitro continues until the end of December.