Ikwokirikwo: Dance of the Spirits / Gerald Chukwuma

IKWOKIRIKWO: DANCE OF THE SPIRITSGERALD CHUKWUMA view Artwork on Artsy To ensure a relaxed and private viewing experience, we celebrate the Opening:full day on Saturday, May 2 from 12 - 8pm at Kristin Hjellegjerde Gallery

Gerald Chukwuma’s thrilling ability to capture moments of rapture reaches new heights in his meditations on the ancient Ikwokirikwo dance, at the Kristin Hjellegjerde Gallery Berlin.

“The Ikwokirikwo is a form of communication – culture, religion, ritual and invocation rolled into one. I spent many hours talking to dancers who are in their eighties and nineties now;for them, it’s dance as a bridge to the ecstatic.”

In its size and vibrancy, Chukwuma’s work transports. The sheer, painstaking physicality – of building, cutting, nailing, burning, chiselling, and painting – generates energy. The spiralling figures draw the viewer into their dance, flashes of colour elevate. Accurately, Chukwuma describes his work as a visual orchestra; the mix of…